So Much Hurt Coming From a Painless Procedure

In the breakfast nook of Chris Favro’s modest Cypress tract home, I put out my hand, palm up. Favro takes my middle finger and presses against it a device that looks like a big pen. I feel a pinch. A little spot of red appears at my fingertip. With gentle pressure, I squeeze a big drop of blood onto a flat device no bigger than a powder compact. In 45 seconds, it announces my blood sugar level.

Simple. Painless.

And so easy, in fact, that moments later, Chris’ 5-year-old daughter, Meghan, performs the very same procedure on her mother.

By demonstrating to me the process by which a diabetic child’s blood sugar level is monitored, Chris Favro is hoping to prove that the City of Long Beach’s refusal to allow its recreational staff to perform the procedure on Meghan will not only prevent her from attending a city swim camp and day care, but also amounts to a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

When Favro first called, I had my doubts about whether it was reasonable to expect the city to accommodate Meghan’s diabetes. After all, Meghan’s blood sugar level would have to be checked at least once and perhaps as many as three times a day (since strenuous activity can affect it).

But after seeing how simple the procedure is, after watching a small child do it, I have to admit that the city’s refusal to train its staff does seem pointless. Maybe even mean-spirited.

Possibly even illegal.

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When it was signed into law by President George Bush in 1990, after winning easy victory in Congress, the ADA was hailed as an “emancipation proclamation” for the estimated 43 million Americans who would fall under its protections.

The ADA, among other things, bans job discrimination and requires companies and public entities to make “reasonable” accommodations for those with disabilities.

Lately, it has become fashionable in the pages of pro-business journals and on the airwaves of conservative talk shows to ridicule the ADA as a pointless piece of legislation that has done nothing in five years of existence but clog the courts with spurious lawsuits.

In the pages of the Wall Street Journal and the American Spectator recently, one critic honed in on such “absurdities” as the lawsuit filed against Burger King by a deaf woman in Santa Monica because she was unable to use its drive-through window.

The critic failed to note, however, that after the deaf woman in question handed her written order to the employee at the drive-through window, the employee refused to fill her order and threatened to call police.

Nor did the critic inform his readers that Burger King not only agreed to install special ordering devices in some of its restaurants, and that the technology will probably be adopted by many other restaurants, but that Burger King officials themselves called the settlement a “win-win situation.”

Absurd? Seems like a big, humane step forward to me.

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Favro was delighted when the brochure touting Long Beach’s summer programs for children came across her desk. As a single mother of five who works full time for a Long Beach shipping company, she needs recreation as well as full-time day care for her children, who range in age from 5 to 14.

There, in plain English, was this assurance: “The City of Long Beach intends to provide reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If a special accommodation is desired, please call. . . .”

When Favro tried to enroll Meghan and her twin brother, Kevin, in aquatics camp, she was told the staff would not be able to perform the simple blood test on Meghan. When Favro offered to arrange (and even pay for) training through St. Mary Medical Center, the city refused.

The city worries about training, about liability.

But Favro says the only corrective step that would ever be required of a staffer would be to administer a cup of soda pop to Meghan if her blood sugar level dropped to a dangerous level. At worst, someone might have to call Favro at work.

“Their staff is trained in CPR,” Favro says. “They are trained to resuscitate. All I am asking them to do is prick her finger two or maybe three times a day.”

“Our position is that this is a medical procedure,” says Linda Daube, Long Beach deputy city attorney. “If Meghan’s mother wants to come down, or whoever she wants to designate will come down, that would be fine. . . . If the mom says the hospital will provide this training, our position is going to be that sending our recreation specialists over there for training is not adequate. It takes someone that is properly licensed in medical procedures.

“We are not denying access to the program . . . but the request that our recreation specialist be trained is, in our mind, unreasonable.”

Barbara Bergstein, a Sherman Oaks attorney who is representing Favro for free, says an ADA-based lawsuit she is planning to file may turn on whether a prick with a needle is a “medical procedure.” Thus far, no one seems to be able to say for sure.

In the meantime, aquatic camp started June 26.

And the summer is already half gone.

* Robin Abcarian’s column is published Wednesdays and Sundays.