Spinal Cord Resources Network » dumping

Gov’t plans to get rid of disabled in “emergencies”

ghgeorge — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:48:00 +0000

State governments are making plans on how to deal with disabled people during emergency situations. New York State has devised a set of triage standards that are to be followed by doctors during times of emergency. Originally public views were to be put into these standards, but that quickly fell by the way side as people found out what the state had planned to do to the disabled. Essentially those with poor prognosis, or severe and irreversible conditions will not be allowed to use ventilators or have access to the ICU. Most people that are disabled or are on dialysis would be turned away from the hospital, and if they were on respirators because of a virus like H1N1, the ventilator would be removed and placed on someone that had a better chance of survival. Presently, New York law prohibits this Nazi era idea of arbitrarily deciding who lives and dies based on whether they are in a wheelchair or not. However, New York officials are working on creating a law that would allow the governor to turn off that law any time he wanted to for as long as he wanted. Supposedly the law would only be used by the governor in times of emergency like the virus outbreak of 1918, but what would stop them from using the law because of money problems? Even if such a law were given to the g0vernpor to use, other laws would open doctors to lawsuits for taking loved ones off of ventilators because it was thought that others would have a better chance of survival. (Source: ProPublica)

One would think that this was the script from a “B” movie in Hollywood, but states all over the country are debating the use of the New York protocols to determine what to do during an emergency and how to ration supplies that run low during a virus outbreak. However, public opinion has been strongly against any kind of rationing like this, and officials have worked hard to keep the public out of meetings that discuss these protocols. Our only safety net is that most states have not implemented this plan as law and most are worried what would happen to public opinion if they did put it into law. While officials are trying to state that this is for the national good and that work must be done to make sure medical care is available neglect to explain how this is going to occur. No one in any meetings to discuss the New York Protocols are willing to say that the will take ventilators and other lifesaving medical equipment from a person merely because they are disabled. We have not heard of something this sinister since the Nazi plan to rid the Reich of people that were “broken or not whole”. People that were forced to live in nursing homes because of disabilities were carted off to the same killing centers that the Jews were sent to. This law appears to allow the state to do the same type of thing under the veil of doctors and hospitals trying to give care to those that desperately need it.

People that live in states that frequently have disasters like Florida, Louisiana and California need to look carefully and see what their state officials are working on in this arena. If your state is looking to implement the New York Protocols you need to call everyone you know to put a stop to it. If this is allowed to become law then the governor of your state can decide at will that the disabled do not deserve to live and will be denied medical care that they may need to survive because others are felt to have a better chance to live. The control of life at this level is disgusting and it is sad that any doctors would be willing to put time and effort to make this a reality. No one should have the basic right to control who lives and who dies without having the family involved.

State budgets crushing disabled

ghgeorge — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:55:18 +0000

The economy has slowly made it impossible for states to take care of the disabled. With so many people out of work, states are not bringing in money like they were before the recession. Income taxes have gone down drastically as well as non payment of property taxes. California is one of the hardest hit states having to lay off large numbers of state workers and trying to figure out how to pay for police and ambulance coverage. As part of the efforts to balance the budget in California, the house and senate have decided to drop a program for low income disabled people to get helpers which keep them out of expensive nursing homes. This program allowed the disabled to hire helpers to clean their home, help them to move around and to go shopping. Now those disabled people are trying to figure out how they can stay at home without this aid. (Source: Mercury News)

It is truly sad that we can no longer help the disabled to stay in their own homes and have a life without nursing homes or group homes. While the federal government created a stimulus package at the beginning of the year, it has had little effect. People are still losing their job in record numbers and the states are trying to work with smaller and smaller budgets because of fewer workers. The federal government needs to create another stimulus package aimed at getting the middle class back to work so they can pay their taxes and provide for their families again. Until we do something to turn around the economy, we are going to be in a country that cannot provide for itself or for those that made it great.

LA hospital dumping case comes to conclusion

greg — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:23:17 +0000

MercuryNews.com reports that the Los Angeles dumping case of a paraplegic in skid row on the ground still in his hospital garb has come to completion. Mr. Gabino Olvera who was helped by people walking by, has won an undisclosed amount of money for pain and suffering. The hospital lost the case which alleged the hospital was negligent in treatment and discharged him into a dangerous situation where he was unable to care for himself. The hospital agreed to new protocols for discharging patients so that they are in a safe condition before a driver leaves. There is also a court appointed referee that watches over how patients are treated and verifies that they are safe after they are dropped off at home. In addition, the hospital is to pay $1 million to two Hollywood service agencies that provide medical services to the homeless and those recovering at home from hospital stays. Civil penalties in the amount of $10,000 and $50,000 in investigative fees are also to be paid by the hospital. Finally the city has passed a law making it a misdemeanor to drop someone off anywhere except their home without written consent.

While it is good to see that Me. Olvera has been compensated for the horrible way in which the hospital dumped him in skid row to die, the hospital seems to have been let off the hook. Where is the investigation of the board of regents of the hospital? Where are the permanent state officials that are assigned to the hospital to verify that they will always do the right thing? When is the next time the hospital is to be dragged into court to explain how they are complying with the judgement? What training programs are ongoing to all hospital employees and contractors are in place to make sure everyone understands and complies with the law? It appears that the hospital had a good legal team and paid everyone off and now gets to move on. What about the other patients that were dumped on skid row? What happened to them? Will there be an investigation of their disappearance and will anyone find out if they still need medical care? Why are the regents of the hospital still in charge? It was obvious that the dumping procedures came from teh top in an effort to cut costs even though people could die. THe hospital should be forced to start with a completely new management team that understands that the hospital is part of the community and responsible to those it cares for. Here is for hope that we don’t have to report again about this problem again.