SOMERVILLE — Rona Mohammedi went to Somerset Medical Center the night of Feb. 11 with severe chest pains. After hearing she would need an electrocardiogram, she asked for a female to conduct the test.

A Muslim, Mohammedi wears traditional garb, including the hijab, or head scarf. The Basking Ridge woman believes it is her religious duty to maintain modesty before strange men, and an EKG calls for wires to be applied to the chest, shoulders and wrists.

Instead of heeding her request, officials let her languish in the emergency room for five hours until 3:10 a.m., when her husband sought a transfer. She is suing the hospital for discrimination and violating the Patient Bill of Rights.

The complaint filed May 14 in Superior Court in Somerville raises the question of how far hospitals must go for religious accommodations. The rights listed in state statutes say patients can expect treatment without discrimination, and respectful care consistent with sound medical practices.

Mohammedi's lawyer, Tariq Hussain, said the hospital failed those basic tenets.

"According to the patients' bill of rights that exist in New Jersey, hospitals are required to make reasonable accommodations for patients for various reasons," he said. "Patients should not be denied service or discriminated against based on religion."

Spokeswoman Kathleen Roberts said, "We recognize how important it is for our patients to be able to continue to practice their faith and cultural traditions, especially when they or a loved one are coping with a health issue. We strive to accommodate our patients' religious beliefs and cultural customs, such as providing areas for prayer."

In the answer lawyer Raymond Fleming filed for the hospital June 28, officials denied the claims and say she was appropriately informed of her options and left against medical advice.

Hospitals make several accommodations to fit an array of beliefs, said Kerry McKean Kelly, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Hospital Association. The standard in the law is reasonable accommodation. "The first responsibility is to stabilize the patient and provide safe and quality health care to all of the patients present. What is considered reasonable can vary day by day ... based on variables like the number of patients in the emergency department."

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Hospital officials at Jersey City Medical Center serve a diverse community and often field such requests, said spokesman Mark Rabson. "We make every effort to make sure that if a person needs and requests a female practitioner in maternity or in the emergency room or radiology, we go out of our way to make sure those people are available," he said. "We'll either call somebody in or work with the patient to have them transferred."

Mohammedi went to Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, where accommodations were made without her asking, Hussain said.

Chief Medical Officer Ira Nash said, "We serve a very culturally diverse community and we have a very diverse staff. That naturally creates an environment where people have appropriate sensitivities to cultural differences and individual patient needs."

Many Muslim women believe they must cover everything but their face and hands in front of men who are not relatives, said Engy Abdelkader, author of "A Muslim Woman's Guide to Her Civil Rights: When Faith Practices Trigger Discrimination in America."

"There are definitely a number of hijab-related lawsuits that have been filed," she said. "There have been settlements in those cases and compromises that have been reached. The religious beliefs are respected, and by the same token the concerns of the other party are also recognized, whether they are homeland security concerns or personal safety issues."

The Patient Bill of Rights doesn't mention lawsuits, said Michael F. Schaff, chair of the health care department at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer and a board member for the American Health Lawyers Association.

Generally, in New Jersey courts, that means you can sue "but it's got to be a breach of a standard of care owed by the hospital," he said. "There is no obligation to require hospitals to have a physician on staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week based on their sex, religion or nationality."