A federal judge signed off last week on a consent decree between the Department of Justice and the Johns Hopkins Health System to resolve allegations that the medical system’s coronavirus-pandemic-era visitor restrictions violated disabled patients’ rights.

The consent decree signed Thursday by U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett requires Hopkins to update its policies surrounding support persons — people who are knowledgeable about a patient and their disability who help make health-care-related decisions — to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The health system also agreed in the consent decree to pay $150,000 in compensation to people affected by the visitor restrictions, which were in place from October 2020 to May 2023.

The Justice Department had alleged in a September complaint that Hopkins “excluded or restricted support persons for numerous individuals with certain disabilities … when the presence of those support persons was necessary for the individuals’ access to equal care.”

The government argued that although Hopkins’ restrictions on visitors, established to prevent the spread of COVID-19, had carved out exceptions for support persons, the health care system had “repeatedly” restricted support persons from accompanying patients at medical facilities.

That practice discriminated against people with disabilities, the government alleged, citing instances where family members, personal care assistants and others were not being permitted to accompany disabled patients.

In one example cited by the Justice Department, the medical system was accused of repeatedly challenging a hard-of-hearing patient’s disability, with emergency room staff asking her for an “ADA card” as proof, and the need for her wife, who provides communication assistance, to be present.

In another, the daughter of an elderly woman with dementia was allegedly excluded from assisting her mother with relaying basic information. The woman became “extremely confused and agitated” and began bleeding profusely after the visit, requiring the mother and daughter to visit a second hospital.

The consent decree notes that Hopkins denies the allegations and was not making any admissions by agreeing to it.

“Johns Hopkins states that in the midst of the life-threatening global COVID-19 pandemic, the outstanding employees of Johns Hopkins were on the front line providing excellent medical care, with many risking their own lives every day,” the consent decree says.

It notes that Hopkins’ position is that the Justice Department “identified a very small number of alleged violations” out of more than 3 million patient visits during the government’s two-year-long investigation. It also says that Hopkins asserts it has a “longstanding practice” of welcoming support persons and that there were “rare departures” from those policies during the pandemic, “an exceptional time and under exceptional circumstances.”

“While Johns Hopkins denies the government’s allegations, and there has been no admission or finding of liability, Johns Hopkins has agreed to an amicable resolution to focus its energy and resources on patient care,” the decree, filed last Thursday, reads.

Attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division wrote in a court filing last Wednesday that Hopkins was currently working with the government to “update its support persons policies to ensure compliance with the ADA.”

The consent decree is in place for a two-year term and requires Hopkins to implement a number of specific changes to public-facing and internal policies regarding support persons and train employees on ADA compliance.

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