The deaf person in hospital

Abstract

Most people with normal hearing, find that entering hospital causes them anxiety. For a deaf person, going to hospital can be an especially traumatic experience. Their inability to hear and to communicate can bring distress, confusion and embarrassment. Not only is it difficult for them to communicate with the hospital staff and these, with them, but their handicap can isolate them from other patients around them. They can be left out of the general ward which often keeps patients cheerful, despite their illness and which may even aid in their recovery. For patients who are hard of hearing or who are totally deaf, this can be a nerve-shattering experience. The doctors give all their. professional help and the guardian angels, the nurses, give ,,wonderful care and attention ... but still they find it exasperating when they cannot hear what the doctor is saying to them. Everybody just nods his head and moves on and the poor patient is left in a world of silence and ignorance from which there seems to be no escape!