An advocacy group for older adults has filed a civil rights complaint against Idaho over the state’s “crisis standards of care” guidelines for hospitals that are overwhelmed by patients amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The group Justice in Aging asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week to investigate Idaho’s health care rationing plan — contending it discriminates against older adults and especially older Black and Native American adults by using factors like age in prioritizing which patients may get access to life-saving care.
Other states have faced similar complaints in recent months. Since the pandemic began, public health officials in Arizona, Utah and northern Texas have modified their crisis care plans amid complaints from Justice in Aging and other disability rights and civil rights organizations.
Idaho activated crisis standards of care earlier this month after a surge of COVID-19 patients exhausted the resources available in most Idaho hospitals.
Crisis care standards are designed as ethical and legal guidelines for health care rationing, directing scarce resources like intensive care unit beds or ventilators to patients most likely to survive. If there is a shortage of resources, other patients may be treated with less effective methods or, in dire cases, given pain relief and other palliative care.
According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, there were more than 760 coronavirus patients hospitalized statewide as of Sept. 20th, including 202 people in intensive care unit beds. (AP)
