Submitted by: Diane Coleman
Adopted: July 23, 2020
WHEREAS, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibit federal and state health care programs from engaging in discrimination against people with disabilities; and
WHEREAS, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act similarly prohibits disability-based discrimination by health providers; and
WHEREAS, disability-based denial of lifesaving health care that is not based on the likelihood a treatment will be safe and effective constitutes discrimination within the meaning of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Americans with Disabilities Act, and Affordable Care Act; and
WHEREAS, nonetheless numerous organ transplant centers have official policies that deprioritize or deny organ transplants for patients with HIV, intellectual, developmental, or mental health disabilities; and
WHEREAS, nonetheless numerous organ transplant centers, during the candidate selection process, have impermissibly used characteristics of intellectual, developmental, or mental health disabilities as an explicit reason for the rejection of a candidate; and [Read more…]