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Pandemic Triage Guidelines Violate Federal Law, Discriminate: Complaint

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A federal complaint filed in North Texas alleges that if the coronavirus pandemic worsens, local hospitals will be forced to ration medical resources using guidelines that discriminate against people with disabilities, older Texans, people of color, and other protected classes.

Disability Rights Texas is one of multiple advocacy groups and individuals that claim triage policies put in place by the North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council (NCTTRAC) violate federal disability laws.

“While we understand that public officials and health care institutions are faced with the unenviable prospect of having to make difficult choices about how to allocate care, it is critical that the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services take immediate steps to ensure that life-saving care is not illegally withheld from North Texans with disabilities, older adults, prisoners, and others with co-morbid conditions, due to discriminatory triage criteria,” the complaint states.

Read more on the NBCDFW website.