News Release-Nebraska Press Association
Lincoln, NE -- Disability Rights Nebraska and 15 stakeholder organizations issued a call today for Governor Pete Ricketts to protect the rights of Nebraskans with disabilities during the COVID-19 emergency and forbid discriminatory medical rationing.
Some states (https://www.centerforpublicrep.org/news/cpr-and-partners-file-second-complaint-regarding-illegal-disability-discrimination-in-treatment-rationing-during-covid-19-pandemic/) have recently proposed crisis health standards to ration medical care that are overtly discriminatory to people living with developmental, intellectual, psychiatric, and physical disabilities. “People with disabilities being placed at the back of the line—or being forbidden from even getting in the line for care—is not a phantom specter. We’re seeing written protocols for care that would simply discard people living with an intellectual disability, people who regularly use a ventilator, people with neuromuscular disease, people with immunocompromised systems, and people with some forms of cancer. This isn’t just inhumane—it’s illegal,” said Eric Evans, CEO of Disability Rights Nebraska.
While many states have written crisis standards of care that instruct medical providers how to address an emergency where there are inadequate resources, Nebraska currently has no such plan. “In the absence of leadership from Governor Ricketts, each individual hospital and doctor will be making a judgment call that might result in a patchwork quilt of rights statewide. We need clear guidance from the state now,” Evans added. “We provided legal authority to Governor Ricketts over a week ago, but disappointingly have heard no response. With this statewide coalition of advocates, we hope to have movement as soon as possible ahead of the COVID-19 peak.”
Nationwide, disability rights advocates have filed complaints with the federal Office of Civil Rights to prevent implementation of discriminatory rationing policies. “If any Nebraskan has confronted medical rationing, we urge you to contact Disability Rights Nebraska (https://www.disabilityrightsnebraska.org/need_our_assistance/request_for_assistance.html) so we can investigate,” Evans said.
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Disability Rights Nebraska is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) that has been designated to provide protection and advocacy services in Nebraska. Disability Rights Nebraska is the only organization mandated to pursue legal and/or other remedies to defend the rights of Nebraskans with disabilities. Learn more at disabilityrightsnebraska.org.
Individuals from the following organizations also signed on to our follow-up letter:
The Arc of Nebraska ACLU Nebraska Nebraska Appleseed
Nebraska Developmental Disabilities Council University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, MMI, UNMC Down Syndrome Alliance of the Midlands
Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired Nebraska Statewide Independent Living Council
Sheltering Tree Legal Aid of Nebraska Ollie Webb Center, Inc.
Brain Injury Alliance of Nebraska Paralyzed Veterans of America, Great Plains Chapter People First of Nebraska, Inc.
ACCOMPANYING LETTER:
April 8, 2020 – By Electronic Mail
Re: Follow-up to letter of March 27, 2019
Dear Governor Ricketts:
We the undersigned write with great concern about the need for clear guidelines to protect people with disabilities during the current COVID-19 crisis.
On March 27, 2020, Disability Rights Nebraska wrote to you with a request for binding statewide guidance to ensure that all Nebraskans, including those with psychiatric, developmental, intellectual and physical conditions, are treated fairly without inappropriate rationing of medical care if they contract COVID-19.[1] <#_ftn1>
All across the country, we are seeing discriminatory proposals to deny ventilator access or other needed medical care for people with a variety of health conditions that deliberately or inadvertently leave out people with disabilities. Nebraska has never created crisis standards of care, which means in this emergency, each hospital or facility can set their own standards. This is not tenable.
We urgently request you to protect all Nebraskans’ right to access medically necessary services by issuing nondiscriminatory statewide guidance to educate all public and private entities. Further, we ask you to affirm the same principles announced by the Office of Civil Rights in their recent guidance to educate all involved that even in this emergency, 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.[2] <#_ftn2>
Nebraskans with disabilities and their families and friends are all too familiar with discrimination and wrongful assumptions about their quality of life. The hospitals and medical providers on the front lines of thousands of individual treatment decisions need clear and binding guidance from the state. The guiding principles outlined by national experts can be adopted in Nebraska.[3] <#_ftn3>
We urge you to bring together a virtual listening session to benefit from the expertise of the undersigned. We await information how the state intends to address the disability community’s concerns regarding discriminatory rationing of care. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this most important issue, and for your long–standing commitment to Nebraska’s citizens with disabilities.
Sincerely,
Eric Evans, Ph.D.
CEO, Disability Rights Nebraska
Edison McDonald
Executive Director, The Arc of Nebraska
Kristen Larsen
Executive Director, Nebraska Developmental Disabilities Council
Wayne Stuberg, Ph.D.
Director, University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, MMI, UNMC
Danielle Conrad, J.D.
Executive Director, ACLU Nebraska
Leah Janke
Executive Director, Down Syndrome Alliance of the Midlands
John C. Wyvill, J.D.
Executive Director, Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Laurie Ackermann
Executive Director, Ollie Webb Center, Inc.
Carlos R. Servan, J.D.
Executive Director, Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Kathy Hoell, MPA
Executive Director, Nebraska Statewide Independent Living Council
Denise Gehringer
Executive Director, Sheltering Tree
Milo Mumgaard, J.D.
Executive Director, Legal Aid of Nebraska
Amanda Vazquez
Government Relations Director, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Great Plains Chapter
Peggy Reisher, MSW
Executive Director, Brain Injury Alliance of Nebraska
Rebecca L. Gould
Executive Director, Nebraska Appleseed
Travis Schaffer
President, People First of Nebraska, Inc.