February 25, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services announced the resolution of three disability discrimination complaints to ensure that patients with disabilities are allowed access to support persons in MedStar Health hospitals and care locations during the COVID-19 pandemic. A support person may be a family member, personal care assistant, similar disability service provider, or other individual knowledgeable about the management or care of the patient who is authorized to assist the patient in making decisions.
None of the individuals in the complaints had COVID-19, but all were impacted by MedStar Health’s temporary visitor restrictions adopted as infection control measures under the COVID-19 public health emergency, which they alleged denied them the support they needed for their disabilities to ensure equal access to healthcare. The three complaints alleged that the patients were denied their support persons. Each patient had varying support needs, including (1) a patient with neuro-cognitive deficits from a stroke, partial blindness, and cancer who was denied a support person while seeking treatment for seizure symptoms in the emergency department at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital in Maryland; (2) a patient with hearing loss and brain dysfunction, causing disorientation and memory loss, who was denied a support person while recovering from heart surgery at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.; and (3) a patient with advanced neuro-muscular autoimmune disease, causing memory loss as well as physical impairments, who was denied a support person when admitted to the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. for a pre-scheduled surgery.
In all three instances, the patients with disabilities alleged that they were denied support persons because of temporary visitor restrictions adopted by MedStar as infection control measures under the COVID-19 public health emergency. Without their support persons, the complainants collectively alleged they were denied effective communication with their treatment teams, denied the ability to make informed decisions and provide consent, and were subjected unnecessarily to physical and pharmacological restraints.
