老澳门开奖结果

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has the filing of new regulations expanding prohibitions on disability discrimination in health care and child welfare settings. The regulations, which will be published formally in the Federal Register next week, apply to health care and child welfare entities that receive federal financial assistance.

The regulations prohibit health care providers from denying treatment to disabled patients based on bias or perception of the value or quality of life of the patient, or based on algorithmic metrics that systemically devalue the life of people with disabilities. Disabled patients frequently experience delays or denials of medical care because of providers鈥� 鈥� or algorithms鈥� 鈥� bias and perception about their quality of life.

鈥淧eople with disabilities face pernicious discrimination in health care and the child welfare system. Too often, our lives are viewed as 鈥榣ess valuable鈥� in the health care system, or we鈥檙e targeted for undue scrutiny by child welfare agencies simply because we have a disability,鈥� said Zoe Brennan-Krohn, director of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Disability Rights Program. 鈥淭hese regulations, at long last, make it clear that bias has no place in medical care, and that practices that exclude or devalue our lives are disability discrimination. We applaud this action from the Biden administration.鈥�

Notably, these new regulations also specifically encompass disability discrimination in organ transplants. The 老澳门开奖结果 has been fighting the widespread exclusion of patients with disabilities 鈥� especially intellectual and developmental disabilities 鈥� from organ transplants for years, and we welcome the regulation鈥檚 firm position on this issue.

The regulations outline the importance of effective communication in health care, including in informed consent. They discuss the importance of providing information in plain language and recognize the value of supported decision-making in health care decision-making.

In addition, the regulations provide much-needed guidance on prohibiting discrimination in child welfare settings. Too often, parents with disabilities face investigation from child welfare agencies, removal of their children, or termination of their parental rights because child welfare workers and courts apply stereotypes and generalizations of people with disabilities to determine a parent鈥檚 fitness, rather than making an individualized assessment of the parent鈥檚 abilities. The regulations make clear that reliance on stereotypes is prohibited, and affirm that child welfare agencies must provide reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures to remove barriers to services and avoid discrimination on the basis of disability. Critically, under the regulations, child welfare agencies would be prohibited from requiring parents to relinquish custody, agree to 鈥渧oluntary鈥� placement, or forfeit parental rights to secure services for their children with disabilities.

鈥淩elying on stereotypes of people with disabilities to justify removal of their children and termination of their parental rights replicates our country鈥檚 shameful history of sterilizing people with disabilities on the assumption that they are not capable of parenting,鈥� said Aditi Fruitwala, senior staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Center for Liberty. 鈥淭he new regulations unequivocally confirm that these practices are impermissible discrimination.鈥�