Oregon Hospitals Didn t Have Shortages. So Why Were Disabled People Denied Care?
Masks hang from an IV pole at a hospital.
Jenny Kane / AP
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a small group of disability rights advocates found itself in a race against time to save the life of a woman with an intellectual disability.
The woman was taken to the hospital with COVID-19. But the hospital, in a small Oregon town, denied the ventilator she needed. Instead, a doctor, citing her low quality of life, wanted her to sign a legal form to allow the hospital to deny her care.
Masks hang from an IV pole at a hospital. Jenny Kane/AP
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a small group of disability rights advocates found itself in a race against time to save the life of a woman with an intellectual disability.
The woman was taken to the hospital with COVID-19. But the hospital, in a small Oregon town, denied the ventilator she needed. Instead, a doctor, citing her low quality of life, wanted her to sign a legal form to allow the hospital to deny her care.
Out of that quiet fight in early spring, the advocates staff at a disability rights legal group, a state lawmaker and a few others discovered something disturbing: There were many cases in Oregon of health care being rationed to people with disabilities.
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Pam Hayden said she didnât have to think twice when she was offered the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTechâs COVID-19 vaccine administered by Samaritan Health Services Friday afternoon.
âI was excited when they asked me,â said Hayden, who has worked in Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center s housekeeping department for five years. âI am not the least bit afraid of the vaccine, but I am very concerned about possibly catching the virus without it.â
She took the shot for âmyself, my friends and my family.â
Hayden said she was not ânervous at allâ when Bill Howden, retired vice president of patient care, swabbed her arm with alcohol and then administered the shot as other Samaritan staff members and administrators watched from a distance.
Tremont:
Robert Hatter, who holds a lucrative position at Washington, D.C., is the guest of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Hatter.
Dr. J. Curley is the guest of his family after receiving a 30-day furlough from Chicago.
75 years ago â 1945
The children of Mary Queen of Peace Parish school presented a Christmas play in the church auditorium Sunday afternoon entitled âThe Clean of Heart,â which was one of the best plays produced in the school. These Christmas plays are an annual custom.
50 years ago â 1970
ORWIGBURG â The Blue Mountain Recreation Commissionâs Christmas basketball tournament will open Saturday for the sixth through eighth grades.