Dog Barred, Sightless Man Sues Hospitals

A blind man filed complaints against nine hospitals today because they refused to let his guide dog accompany him into the labor room when his daughter was born.

Frank Perino, 43, said he and the dog attended natural childbirth classes at St. Vincent’s Hospital on Staten Island with his wife, Kathy, for five weeks before their daughter, Mary Frances, was born May 19.

“But shortly before she was born, the hospital said I could not come to the labor room to attend the birth,” Perino said.

He had already filed a complaint against St. Vincent’s and today he added nine other hospitals that also turned away his dog.

“They gave a variety of excuses,” Perino said. “Some said the dog was unsanitary and some said there was not room for the dog.”

Perino and his dog, an Akita named Mountain, were finally allowed in the labor room at Lenox Hill Hospital where the child was born.

“Mountain and I were in the labor room at Lenox Hill for 12 hours,” said Perino, who was born blind and who works at Inner Sight, an agency that trains dogs to guide the blind.