June 22, 1992

SENATOR LARRY PRESSLER
SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
HART 133
WASHINGTON DC 20510
Dear Senator Pressler:

I received this letter (copy enclosed) from the South Dakota 
Association of the Deaf. The tone of the letter is quite mandatory and 
does not express the real fine job these organizations have done for 
the deaf-mute. I have also enclosed a copy of the letter I have written 
to them. I have really enjoyed XX(b)(6) as my patient. We did have a good 
way of communicating that seemed relatively error-free without an 
intermediary as an interpreter that interjects another source of 
possible error.

My purpose for writing you is to ask, what was the purpose of the 
"Americans with Disabilities Act" 28 C. F. R. 36.104? Was it intended 
to be used in such a mandatory way? As you can see from my letter, I am 
not so disturbed by it, even though a "gentler, kinder letter" could 
have been written with much less chance of antagonizing doctors. 
Doctors are already beset in the last two years to comply with the new 
Medicare fee schedule and coding system, the OSHA regulations requiring 
a documented program for controlling exposure to blood-borne diseases 
in their offices, the steps necessary to qualify our office labs under 
the quality standards set out by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement 
Act of 1988. As a result, we have had to add staff duties to our 
employees by new expensive computer software programs and education of 
these programs to comply to all these new regulations. We are feeling 
pressured to deliver less and less care to our patients with more 
overhead. 

My two ultimate questions to you are:
1. Are we breaking the law if we refuse to use the interpreters here?
2. What was the intention of the Act?


Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

Robert K. Johnson, M.C.

RKJ/drh

Enclosures

01-01473