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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 2, 2021 03:56 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Jessica Benham |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Improving Pennsylvania’s Crisis Standards of Care |
| The citizens of Pennsylvania deserve a commonwealth where all life is valued equally so that all individuals are provided the same opportunity to thrive. This is a fundamental requirement for any free and fair society. And while we strive for a future where all humanity is viewed without prejudice, the truth is that decision-makers under distress are prone to ad hoc decisions guided by bias and a lack of moral clarity. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has further revealed what many already knew to be true: that some lives are arbitrarily assigned more worth than others. During this pandemic, health systems have been inundated with patients in need of critical care, and as a result, the demand for scarce lifesaving resources has far exceeded the supply. Here in Pennsylvania, persons with disabilities have been illegally discriminated against from lifesaving care despite the implementation of crisis standards of care. For example, initial triage-scoring guidelines developed by the state used long-term life expectancy as a criterion for allocating patients with lifesaving treatment, despite the fact that long-term life expectancy is nearly impossible to predict accurately. Especially while under stress, medical professionals may struggle to accurately predict long-term life expectancy for patients, especially those with disabilities, Black and brown people, and those whose life expectancy might be (or might not be!) limited by social determinants of health, such as poverty or access to healthcare. Pennsylvania’s current allocation guidelines that do not provide every human life with a fair chance for survival are unacceptable and inconsistent with our moral principles. This is why I plan to introduce legislation to improve Pennsylvania’s crisis standards of care by requiring the Department of Health to develop triage guidelines and procedures that actively address unfair decisional bias in our health care systems. I ask that you please join me in supporting this bill to respect the lives of all Pennsylvanians by ensuring equal access to critical care. Thank you. |
Introduced as HB1927