As states across the country experience surges in COVID-19 cases, and hospitals in some areas become overwhelmed with patients, states and local health entities are developing guidelines for health care providers to use should they need to resort to rationing care. Unfortunately, many of these guidelines would lead to older adults and people with disabilities being illegally denied life-saving medical care. Last month, we reported on our success in pushing the state of California to abandon their initial guidelines and develop a set of non-discriminatory guidelines, and are working with partners in other states to develop similar guidelines. We, along with disability rights partners, have also filed complaints to the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services in several states including Arizona, Oregon, and Texas. The New York Times highlighted our work in an article about the ethics of care rationing.
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