British Doctors Order “Do No Resuscitate” Those with Mental Disabilities Podcast
by John Stonestreet and Roberto Rivera for Break Point
On a cultural level, COVID-19 did not create as many problems and challenges as it revealed and escalated. Like the medical co-morbidities that made the virus more dangerous and more deadly for individuals, cultural pre-existing conditions only worsened during the pandemic. Social distancing and lockdowns, for example, made our pre-existing cultural problem of loneliness that much worse for many.
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In the same way, the general, widespread disregard for the those with intellectual disabilities in our culture made their mistreatment during the pandemic easier as well. For example, during the first wave of the pandemic in Great Britain, various facilities that care for people with intellectual disabilities, what the Brits call “learning disabilities,” issued blanket “Do Not Resuscitate” orders. These orders came, according to one source, directly from doctors, without consulting the patients or their families.
In December, following public outcry, Britain’s Care Quality Commission investigated and found that the orders were, in their words, “inappropriate” and should be rescinded. That was not, however, the end of the problem.
According to the Guardian newspaper, people with intellectual disabilities such as Down syndrome continue to be told that they will not be resuscitated if they become ill with COVID. This despite last year’s public outcry and the Commission’s report and instructions. Also, given that “people with [intellectual] disabilities aged 18 to 34 are 30 times more likely to die of COVID than others the same age,” a Do Not Resuscitate Order is a practically a death sentence.
This horrific practice has nothing to do with medicine. DNR’s are usually reserved for people too frail to benefit from CPR, which is not the case here. As one advocacy group told the Guardian, “some [orders] seem to have been issued for people simply because they had [an intellectual] disability.”
