(March 30, 2020) Disability Rights Louisiana (DRLA), with support from a number of other organizations and stakeholders, issued a letter to Governor John Bel Edwards, along with Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Stephen Russo and other top state officials, strongly urging Louisiana to take specific steps to ensure that life-saving care is not withheld from citizens with disabilities and senior citizens, due to discriminatory resource allocation or diminished standards of care.
In the letter, DRLA reminds state leaders that all state and private entities overseeing the delivery of life-saving medical interventions must make treatment decisions consistent with the non-discrimination requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. As Louisiana may be in the position of having to make rationing decisions on the use of ventilators in a matter of days, DRLA strongly urges Louisiana to adopt statewide guidelines to ensure that these requirements and principles for the delivery of care are followed, as recently outlined by the National Council on Disability (NCD) and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD).
In light of some states’ outdated and discriminatory policies on emergency resource allocation, such as Washington and Alabama, in which individuals with specific disabilities or functional impairments can be denied access to or subjected to the removal of medically necessary ventilators, DRLA seeks to confirm with state leaders that Louisiana is implementing policies that directly address the resolution of critical questions concerning how allocation of resources will occur at a time when demand exceeds system capacity.
While the letter applauds the state’s ongoing efforts and offers continued assistance and expertise, DRLA makes it clear to leadership that, “Louisiana has an opportunity to be a national leader on these issues, by acting to establish equitable and nondiscriminatory standards of care before scarcity begins driving medical decisions across Louisiana.”
DRLA urges, “In a medical setting, the lives of people with disabilities are often at the greatest risk. Even changes to the standard of care for all patients, such as implementing a ‘universal do not resuscitate’ order, would disproportionately prevent people with disabilities from receiving life-saving care. It is important that Louisiana act quickly to ensure that rationing criteria and standards of care reflect evidence-based medical science and the intrinsic value of all human life.”
For more information regarding this particular issue, please contact Chris Rodriguez, Executive Director of DRLA, at crodriguez@disabilityrightsla.org
If you are experiencing disability related issues surrounding the circumstances of COVID-19, call 1-800-960-7705, or send an email to COVID-19@disabilityrightsla.org
For more information about DRLA in general, please visit our website at disabilityrightsla.org or call 1-800-960-7705.
