A resolution between a Connecticut hospital and federal civil rights attorneys will allow for expanded visitation rights for people with disabilities during a health crisis.
Federal officials say that health care facilities have denied entry to caregivers for people with disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services announced it had reached a settlement with Hartford Hospital and the state of Connecticut on when visitors’ policies can be exempted to ensure equal access to care for people with disabilities.
“We’ve heard too many heart-wrenching stories about people literally dying alone,” office Director Roger Severino said in a call with reporters. “We hope this will be a model for other states to follow when it comes to visitation policies.”
The settlement comes in the case of Joan Parson, a 73-year-old woman with short-term memory loss and aphasia. She was denied contact with family members, whose support she needed to communicate during her treatment for COVID-19.
Ms. Parson’s daughter, Susan Fandacone, says her mother underwent tests she couldn’t consent to and needed to be physically restrained during a nighttime procedure with masked health care workers.
“Emotionally, she has a lot of healing to do,” Ms. Fandacone said of her mother.
Tuesday’s settlement is not binding on other states or health care facilities outside Connecticut.
Mr. Severino said he hopes health care facilities across the nation will take up individualized assessments to ensure that people with disabilities are not subjected to a “ruthless utilitarianism” of no-exceptions visitation policies.
In conjunction with the settlement, Connecticut’s acting commissioner of the Department of Public Health issued an order Tuesday emphasizing that a “designated support person,” including a family member or personal care assistant, can accompany a patient into a health care facility under restricted visitation, so long as the individual is asymptomatic and wears personal protective equipment.
“In March, to protect the safety and well-being of patients, their families and our colleagues, Hartford HealthCare made an unprecedented decision to restrict visitation across Hartford HealthCare, with clear exceptions when appropriate, including exceptions for our patients with disabilities,” the health care provider said in a statement to The Washington Times.
Last week, Hartford HealthCare began loosening its restrictions, the company said.
The Office for Civil Rights has targeted violations of patients’ civil rights, particularly those with disabilities, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April, it announced that Alabama health officials had dropped a discriminatory triage policy that de-prioritized people with “profound retardation” for receiving access to a ventilator.
Mr. Severino on Tuesday noted his office had reached a similar agreement with Pennsylvania.
“A crisis is no time to relax our civil rights laws,” he said.
Ms. Fandacone said her mother has returned home but suffers emotionally from her stint in the hospital and has blamed family members for “abandoning” her.
“We’ve reminded her that … we couldn’t be there,” said Ms. Fandacone. “We were with her. We did the best we could.”
According to a report published last month in the Disability and Health Journal, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have fared more poorly during the COVID-19 pandemic than other patients, with higher death rates than the overall population, particularly among younger ages.
• Christopher Vondracek can be reached at cvondracek@washingtontimes.com.
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