old deaf nurse

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I am in my 50's and was talking to a colleague in their 60's.  She was voicing that she just learned she is going deaf and is afraid they will fire her before she reaches 65 and can retire.   I had never even thought about it before, but our job does require us to hear....  can they fire her for not being able to hear? 

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2 minutes ago, emmafrancis said:

I am in my 50's and was talking to a colleague in their 60's.  She was voicing that she just learned she is going deaf and is afraid they will fire her before she reaches 65 and can retire.   I had never even thought about it before, but our job does require us to hear....  can they fire her for not being able to hear? 

Yes, if it's an essential part of her job that has no reasonable accommodation.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Can she benefit from hearing aids or an amplified stethoscope? 

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Specializes in school nurse.

I had to laugh. Your title made me think that this nurse was going to be dropped off at the pound...

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 Hearing loss is common in the 60's and progresses. This outcome will depend on the severity of the hearing loss. She knows how this is affecting her ability to care for patients. Her concern should be for patient safety, not her position.

Can they fire her?  Only lawyers can work that out.

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She could learn ASL and be a nurse for hearing impaired people

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

If she isn't using hearing aids, she needs to get some. My mother just got them and they are not at all visible and make a HUGE difference. They have come a long way. Of course, they are pretty expensive.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Wonderful advice in allnurses Nurse Disabilities forum:  https://allnurses.com/nurse-disabilities-c162/

1. Has she had an Audiologist.ENT evaluation... if they have detected hearing problem, needs to be proactive to request ADA accommodation

2. Investigate hearing devices to assist her: hearing aids and amplified stethoscope.

3. Have an evaluation with Speech Language SPL

4.. What Community resources available to assist her?

We have an active Deaf+ Hearing Communication Center  in my county which provides education, support and interpreters along with great resource list.  https://dhcc.org/resources/links/

Temple University, Philadelphia  Institute on Disabilities is chock full of information,  offers lending library to preview devices prior to purchase: https://techowlpa.org/

Don't throw in the towel yet. Being proactive helps prevent premature Employer action to prevent any reason for firing until one is ready to retire.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

She needs to get hooked up with all of the resources in her area and be pro-active in preventing further loss ... get whatever assistive technology she needs ... arrange for the accommodations she may need ... and make plans for when her hearing deteriorates further.  That may involve switching jobs, maybe not, depending on what her prognosis is.   Some jobs require more hearing than others.   Technology can help some problems, but not others. 

I've had a mild/moderate hearing loss for 20 years, but have managed to make it to retirement.   However, I have always known that my hearing would probably only get worse with time, not better.   So dealing with the hearing loss has always been a part of my career planning.

I wish her the best of luck!

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