Utah has become the fifth state to overhaul crisis guidelines that could have deprived people with disabilities of doctors’ care if hospitals become overwhelmed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Roger Severino with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says the changes settle a complaint from disability advocates and set a new standard for other states in removing bias from making potentially agonizing decisions. Utah was one of several states facing complaints over state guidelines that advocates said wrongly devalued the disabled. Most of the plans have been in place for years. They came under renewed scrutiny during the pandemic.