Shira Wakschlag Files Federal Complaints Challenging States’ Discriminatory Crisis Standards of Care That Exclude People with Disabilities from Life-Saving Treatment

Shira Wakschlag (‘10), Director, Legal Advocacy and Associate General Counsel of The Arc, was quoted in Forbes regarding a win as Alabama, Tennessee and Pennsylvania agree to rewrite emergency pandemic care plans following federal civil rights complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights charging state triage plans would allow life-saving care to be withheld from disabled patients (“Disabled Discriminated Against By Crisis Health Plans, Groups Charge In Federal Complaints,” July 27). “People with disabilities ... by no means should be left behind during a life or death public health crisis. These complaints and the resolutions that have followed have been critical in educating states and hospitals nationwide that disability rights laws apply to the provision of medical care during this pandemic.”
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