One Strong Voice: Information and Resources Regarding Medical Rationing

One Strong Voice (OSV) is a policy group that meets via Zoom the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month. Our group includes CCDC staff and community leaders from across the state who work for or with disability organizations throughout Colorado. We provide a safe, confidential platform for discussing the issues which directly affect Colorado’s disability community, including housing, health care, K-12 Education, transportation, and more.

OSV participated in a call hosted by The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).  During the call, they received a number of questions about what individuals can do to prevent states from developing discriminatory medical triage protocols. Below is the list of resources they compiled, including the #NoBodyIsDisposable campaign, and a Know Your Rights toolkit for people facing discrimination during medical triage.

Listen to the call on 4/3/2020.

Transcript of the call on 4/3/2020.

Resources Provided

• Center for Dignity in Healthcare for People with Disabilities Fact Sheet: Safeguard Against Disability Discrimination During COVID-19
• Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities letter on basic legal principles of nondiscrimination in healthcare
• Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund resource Preventing Discrimination in the Treatment of COVID-19 Patients: The Illegality of Medical Rationing on the Basis of Disability
• DREDF Know Your Healthcare Disability Rights factsheet (available in multiple languages)
• “Don’t Deny Disabled People Ventilators” op-ed by National Council on Disability Chairman Neil Romano and Sam Bagenstos
• Guidance from Disability Legal Groups on non-discrimination in medical rationing related to the HHS Guidance
• Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights Bulletin on Civil Rights and COVID-19
• “I will not apologize for my needs” op ed by Ari Ne’eman
• “May Hospitals Withhold Ventilators from COVID-19 Patients with Pre-Existing Disabilities? Notes on the Law and Ethics of Disability-Based Medical Rationing” Yale Law Review Article from Sam Bagenstos.
• #NoBodyIsDisposable a “Know Your Rights” toolkit for people facing potential triage discrimination based on disability or weight during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
• Webpage with additional resources and federal and state advocacy (including OCR complaints and state advocacy coalition letters): The Center for Public Representation – COVID-19 Medical Rationing 
• AAPD Letter to Senate Majority and Minority Leaders: COVID-19 Response Package
• Letter to Congressional Leaders on COVID-19. (3/24/20). AAPD led over 270 organizations in a letter to congressional members on the COVID-19.  Our organizations wrote to strongly encourage congress to include address the needs of people with disabilities in the third COVID relief package.