OCR Says Allocating Respirators & Other COVID-19 Resources Based On Patient Pre-Existing Conditions Violates Civil Rights Laws

This week’s Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) announcement of the civil rights disability complaint settlement with the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) for rationing scarce resources in response to the COVID-19 health care emergency provides a strong warning to other State, local, tribal, and territorial public health policymakers, healthcare systems leadership, and other public emergency decision-makers and other public or private recipients (collectively “COVID responders”) of HHS or other federal funds not to discriminate when rationing scarce medical resources like ventilators or other constricted resources and to provide all legally required accommodations for individuals with pre-existing conditions or disorders constituting disabilities, English as a second language, religion, age or other protected status under federal civil rights laws such as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”), Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the “ADA”), and Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Section 1557”). Coupled with other recent guidance warning COVID responders to ensure compliance with federal civil rights laws provides a strong warning to other health care providers, public health authorities and other COVID-19 responders to review and take any action needed to correct any disability discrimination or other civil rights law violations in their own COVID-19 emergency policies or operations. Learn more here!