OCR Seeks Information on Addressing Disability Discrimination in Health Care and Child Welfare (DDC)

 From Disability Matters by the Governor's Council for People with Disabilities

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) for the Department of Health and Human Services has issued a Request for Information (RFI) on disability discrimination in health care and child welfare contexts. To make sure that it's clear exactly what they're asking, here's the request as-is:

In carrying out its enforcement activities under Section 504, OCR has become aware that significant discrimination on the basis of disability still exists in the nation's health care and child welfare systems. OCR has received reports of discriminatory practices from researchers, advocates, organizations of persons with disabilities and the agency's own enforcement, monitoring, and technical assistance activities.

 

OCR has undertaken a review of its existing disability nondiscrimination regulations, and is considering revising the regulations to address important and pressing issues that have been raised in the health care and child welfare contexts in recent years. Because of the extensive reach of the issues under consideration, OCR feels it is appropriate to solicit public comment on the key issues that any future updates to such regulations would or should address.

To that end, OCR seeks information on disability discrimination with respect to:

• Organ transplantation, including discrimination arising from the denial of reasonable modifications for individuals with disabilities seeking transplantation;
• Life-saving or life-sustaining care, including from undue influence or steering persons with disabilities toward the withdrawal of life-saving or life-sustaining care as well as denials of care emerging from medical futility determinations;
• Suicide prevention and treatment programs, including from undue influence or steering persons with disabilities toward the provision of life-ending services on the basis of disability;
• Crisis Standards of Care at the state and provider level;
• Health care value assessment methodologies, including by use of measures that assign percentage values to the lives of individuals or groups of individuals with disabilities due to their disability or judgments regarding quality or relative worth of life.
• Child welfare, including discrimination against parents and prospective parents with disabilities involved with the child welfare system; and
• Availability of auxiliary aids and accessible medical equipment.