The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #40538

David A. Ebert, MD, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Frankel 908, 15th and California, Chicago, IL 60608, (773)542-2000, ext. 4855, davidebertmd@hotmail.com

Determining why a person is deaf, and whether they have other additional medical conditions related to an underlying cause of deafness, have significant implications outside the clinical realm. This abstract's discussion is stimulated by the findings and experiences among the adults accessing a medical practice serving persons who use sign language. An initial sample of 155 deaf consumers included probable chromosomal or other genetic etiologies of deafness for 46 (29.7%); other maternal, prenatal, or early childhood illnesses or events accounting for 45 (29.0%); and uncertain or unknown etiologies for 64 (41.3%). Our consumers view their deafness as a state socially defining them as part of the deaf community, and infrequently request further etiologic evaluation. Diagnosis of etiology of deafness could be perceived as forcing a medical model upon a social and cultural model. Further medical work-up and diagnosis could potentially have negative consequences, such as possible loss of privacy; risks to insurability, employability, and other social access; and the impersonal labeling of individuals by diagnosis. However, many of the genetic or other medical causes of deafness are accompanied by additional clinical manifestations which have significant short- and long-term implications for health. For those with an uncertain or unknown etiology for deafness, the advantages and disadvantages of further medical evaluations are even more complex. We will further discuss our findings in this service population in light of such ethical and clinical considerations, with additional accumulating data.

Learning Objectives:

• Contrast the medical model for applying diagnoses of etiologies of deafness with the model of deafness as part of the social environment.
• List the general causes of deafness and their relative frequencies.
• Identify potential disadvantages to diagnostic work-ups to establish a cause of deafness.
• Discuss examples of underlying causes of deafness which have other accompanying medical conditions or complications, both immediate or long-term.
• Summarize and compare the risks and benefits of further medical evaluation of cause of deafness.

Keywords: Deaf Patients, Disability Studies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Sinai Health System, Chicago, Illinois Access Community Health Network, Chicago, Illinois
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employment