The COVID-19 virus has raised questions about whether certain patients deserve preferential treatment.
The COVID-19 virus has raised questions about whether certain patients deserve preferential treatment.
An individual’s civil rights will be violated by health care providers rationing treatment during the coronavirus pandemic based on age or disability, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced recently in a bulletin.
“Health and Human Services is committed to leaving no one behind during an emergency,” OCR Director Roger Severino said in a statement. “This guidance is designed to help health care providers meet that goal, Persons with disabilities, with limited English skills, or needing religious accommodations, should not be put at the end of the line for health services during emergencies. Our civil rights laws protect the equal dignity of every human life from ruthless utilitarianism.”
The department’s bulletin comes on the heels of a March 23 memo published by Chicago-based Thomas More Society, along with California-based civil rights group, Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, saying that any policy relegating older or disabled Americans to second-tier care would violate federal civil rights statutes prohibiting discrimination. Policies implemented by state officials are also covered under the same laws.
Special counsel to the two groups, Charles LiMandri, a partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP, told Prairie State Wire that the memo is intended to put providers on notice when considering treatment options.
“It [the bulletin] serves as both a reminder of the law and of the consequences if the law isn’t followed,” LiMandri said. “They could face civil action, have their license suspended and lose federal funding.”
In a statement released by the Thomas More Society, LiMandri said they understood “that doctors must use triage to prioritize treatment and that means having to make difficult choices. But rationing health care based on a person’s age or disability is not only unlawful, it is inhumane. We are pleased the Trump administration shares that belief, and we expect the bulletin to reassure doctors fighting at the frontlines of this pandemic.”
The memo stemmed from news reports of health care providers considering who should be denied treatment if their facilities get overwhelmed by patients infected with the virus.
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