In general, it has been found that Deaf individuals are routinely not provided with appropriate communication resources during medical appointments (e.g. interpreters), which can impact their ability to communicate with their healthcare providers as well as impede their understanding of their health conditions (Hoglind, 2018). For instance, these communication barriers are often considered the reason why many Deaf individuals are more likely to experience negative health circumstances, like a higher rate of cardiovascular problems (Hoglind, 2018). 

In a 2010 article by Hoang et al., the researchers found that most healthcare providers are not aware of the limited percentage of words that are understood through lipreading (only about 30% of spoken words are typically understood), and because of this, there can be communication breakdowns that lead many Deaf patients to avoid medical visits/physicians.