Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law

FEATURED WORK

Bazelon Center and Partners release a new report: “Examining How Crisis Standards of Care May Lead to Intersectional Medical Discrimination Against COVID-19 Patients.”

COVID-19

BAZELON CENTER AND PARTNERS RELEASE A NEW REPORT: “EXAMINING HOW CRISIS STANDARDS OF CARE MAY LED TO INTERSECTIONAL DISCRIMINATION DURING COVID-19”

On February 11, 2021, the Bazelon Center and a national coalition of civil rights groups and legal scholars announce the release of a new report: “Examining How Crisis Standards of Care May Lead to Intersectional Medical Discrimination Against COVID-19 Patients.” Crisis standards of care are used to decide who should receive priority for treatment when there are not enough resources to serve everyone. The report provides an explanation of crisis standards of care policies implemented by states and hospital systems and how they may discriminate against people with disabilities, older adults, higher weight people, as well as Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, in hospital care. It also outlines principles that can help prevent discrimination, the relevant civil rights legal framework, and recommended strategies to ensure that crisis standards do not discriminate during the pandemic or in the future. See the intersectional crisis care guide and contributing partners(PDF) here.

Policy & Advocacy

LEADING MENTAL HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON STATES TO PRIORITIZE INDIVIDUALS IN PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS FOR VACCINATION

The Bazelon Center teams up with other leading mental health organizations NASMHPD, American Psychological Association, Mental Health America, and NAMI to call on states to include individuals with long-term psychiatric hospital stays in the highest priority group. We also urge state authorities to follow SAMHSA’s recommendation to use outpatient treatment options, when clinically appropriate, wherever possible to reduce risks of spread during the pandemic. Read the press release (PDF) here.

Litigation

LAWSUIT CHALLENGES NEW YORK CITY’S SEGREGATION OF STATEN ISLAND STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Attorneys filed a major class-action lawsuit challenging New York City’s segregated school system for students with disabilities on Staten Island. The lawsuit alleges that the borough’s separate school district for children with disabilities, known as District 75, denies these students an equal education, forcing them into segregated schools and classrooms without adequate resources and with no meaningful opportunity to be integrated into their community schools. Disability Rights New York, The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and Disability Rights Advocates work together to support the plaintiffs, three Staten Island students with disabilities. They are not seeking monetary damages; rather, they seek reforms that will compel the New York City Department of Education to provide the resources necessary so that every Staten Island District 75 student has the opportunity to attend their neighborhood schools if they choose. Read the press release (PDF) here. View Class Action Complaint (PDF) here.

U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Policy Looking for States to Apply to Newly Launched ASPIRE

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy has launched ASPIRE, Advancing State Policy Integration for Recovery & Employment, to ensure people with disabilities earn at least minimum wage and will provide training for states to implement strategic plans.

States selected to participate in ASPIRE will receive expert consultation in the following areas:

Policy Coordination
Program Integration
Evidence-based employment services to promote competitive integrated employment for individuals w/ mental health conditions

Learn more and apply at http://StateASPIRE.org. Jennifer Mathis, the Center’s Deputy Legal Director and Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy, serves on the working group for the ASPIRE grant.

Bazelon Center and Other Advocates File Lawsuit Challenging New York City’s Segregation of Staten Island Students with Disabilities

On Tuesday, January 26, attorneys filed a major class action lawsuit challenging New York City’s segregated school system for students with disabilities on Staten Island. The lawsuit alleges that New York City’s separate school district for children with disabilities, known as District 75, denies these students an equal education, forcing them into segregated schools and classrooms without adequate resources and with no meaningful opportunity to be integrated into their community schools.

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Disability Rights New York, Disability Rights Advocates, the Law Office of Jerry Hartman under the auspices of the Barbara McDowell and Gerald S. Hartman Foundation Inc., and the law firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP work together to support the plaintiffs, three Staten Island students with disabilities. They are not seeking monetary damages; rather, they seek reforms that will compel the New York City Department of Education to provide the resources necessary so that every Staten Island District 75 student has the opportunity to attend their neighborhood schools if they choose. Many Staten Island District 75 students attend schools located outside their communities and spend two hours or more commuting to school every day. Read the press release (PDF) here. Read the class action complaint (PDF) here.

North Carolina Adopts Non-discriminatory COVID-19 Medical Rationing Provisions in Response to Civil Rights Complaint by Bazelon Center, Disability Rights NC, and Other Advocacy Groups

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) resolved a federal complaint filed by Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) and The Arc of North Carolina alleging that North Carolina’s scarce medical resource plan illegally deprioritized people with disabilities in the allocation of lifesaving care. DRNC and The Arc of North Carolina were joined by a coalition of national disabilities advocates who have filed more than a dozen such complaints since the pandemic began.

Partners in the NC case are the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Center for Public Representation, The Arc of the United States, Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Samuel Bagenstos. Medical rationing policies have disproportionately impacted Black people with disabilities, because they have higher rates of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization.

In response to the complaint and engagement with OCR, North Carolina has revised its “Protocol for Allocating Scarce Inpatient Critical Care Resources in a Pandemic” to comply with federal disability rights laws and ensure that people with disabilities will not encounter discrimination even when public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitate the rationing of medical resources. Read the press release (PDF) with the key changes in North Carolina’s policy to avoid discrimination against people with disabilities here.

With Objectives Achieved, Plaintiffs Seek Dismissal of Suit for COVID-19 Protections for State Psychiatric Hospital Patients

On January 13, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Connecticut Legal Rights Project, and the Center for Public Representation asked the court to dismiss our case seeking improved COVID-19 protections for psychiatric hospital residents, Wilkes v. Lamont after achieving our goals. This class action case was filed in response to COVID-19 deaths and unsafe conditions in two of Connecticut’s state psychiatric hospitals, Connecticut Valley Hospital and Whiting Forensic Hospital. In the spring COVID-19 surge, five patients died and scores of patients and staff were infected. Because the state improved safety protocols at the hospitals and gained control over COVID-19 outbreaks there, and because the Governor’s COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group recognized that individuals in state psychiatric hospitals should be prioritized for vaccinations, the plaintiffs dismissed their case. Read the press release (PDF) here. Read about the case, Wilkes v. Lamont (PDF), here.

Bazelon Center and Other Leading Mental Health Organizations Call on States to Prioritize Individuals in Psychiatric Hospitals for Vaccination

On January 13, the Bazelon Center teamed up with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), the American Psychological Association, Mental Health America, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to call on states to include individuals with long-term psychiatric hospital stays in the highest priority group like any other healthcare setting. They also urge state authorities to follow the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recommendation using outpatient treatment options, when clinically appropriate, wherever possible to reduce risks of spread during the pandemic. Read the press release (PDF) here. Read the SAMHSA recommendations (PDF) here.

Bazelon Center, AAPD, DREDF and 16 Other National Disability Rights Groups Closely Watching Supreme Court Case Challenging the Affordable Care Act

National disability groups are closely following the Supreme Court’s consideration of the challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) brought by Texas and 19 other states and supported by the Trump Administration. Texas argues that the ACA’s individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the entire law must be struck down. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case, California v. Texas, on Tuesday, November 10. The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF), and 16 other leading disability rights organizations, represented pro bono by law firms Dentons and Baker Hostetler, filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court highlighting the crucial health care protections that Congress provided for people with disabilities in the ACA. The ACA prevents people from being denied coverage or charged more due to pre-existing conditions and made coverage of needed services available and affordable to millions of people with disabilities for the first time. Read the press release (PDF) here. Read the amicus brief (PDF) here.

Bazelon Center Applauds Introduction of the Mental Health Justice Act

The Bazelon Center applauds the November 9, 2020 introduction of the Mental Health Justice Act by Reps. Katie Porter, Tony Cárdenas, Mary Gay Scanlon, and Ayanna Pressley. Individuals with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities are more likely to experience police violence during arrest, with one out of every four deaths caused by law enforcement officers being a person with a mental illness. Moreover, these individuals are often needlessly incarcerated rather than receiving the community-based services they need. The Mental Health Justice Act would address this by creating a grant program to pay for hiring, training, salary, benefits and additional expenses for mental health provider first responder units. These mental health providers would act as a mental health emergency response team, deployed in lieu of law enforcement officers when 911 is called because someone is in a mental health crisis or related situation. Grant recipients would also receive expert advice through technical assistance from the Disability Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Read more about the Mental Health Justice Act here.

Bazelon Center and 13 Prominent National Disability Organizations Join Together to Encourage Disability Community to Vote on November 3rd

On October 26, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, together with thirteen prominent national disability organizations joined together to urge all Americans who care about issues related to disability to vote on November 3rd. We released the following collective statement:

“COVID-19 is a unique burden for people with disabilities. Lives have been lost. Isolation exacerbated. Unemployment skyrocketing. The policy issues on the ballot this November impacts every aspect of life for the disability community. We must vote in record numbers to have our voices heard and needs met in the ongoing public health emergency.

“People with disabilities form an increasingly large, powerful, and potentially decisive percentage of the electorate in key battleground states and across the country. A projected 38 million eligible voters have a disability and millions more live with someone who has a disability. Taken together, more than 25% of the American electorate may be motivated by issues affecting the disability community.

“These issues include funding for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) to support health care needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. HCBS helps individuals with disabilities receive services at home as appropriate. HCBS is also important to help individuals with disabilities work, by hiring direct support staff, including job coaches, so that those who can work at this time have the supports they need to do so safely and effectively. And when individuals with disabilities work, we hope to see that they are paid fair wages with a phasing-out of section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows individuals with disabilities to be paid subminimum wages. These, among other issues, are essential to the future success of individuals with disabilities.

“Fourteen of the nation’s largest disability organizations are unified in message and purpose. We encourage all of our members to vote!”

Bazelon Center Updates Voting Rights Guides, Highlighting Voter Rights for People with Disabilities

In time for this critical election, the Bazelon Center issued a revised edition of its guide to the voting rights of people with mental disabilities, “VOTE. It’s Your Right. Guide to the Voting Rights of People with Mental Disabilities.” The guide, compiled jointly with the National Disability Rights Network, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and the law firms of Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, lists key legal principles and focuses on four areas of concern:

1. voter-competence requirements;

2. state photo-ID laws;

3. voter challenges; and

4. providing help to voters with disabilities.

“VOTE. It’s Your Right.” is available as a free PDF to download from the Bazelon Center’s website here.

The plain language version of the guide is available here.

Our updated charts showing voter competence laws, absentee ballot laws and voter challenge laws in each state can be found at http://www.bazelon.org/our-work/voting/.

All of the Bazelon Center’s voting rights resources can be found HERE.

Bazelon Center and Partner Organizations Release Principles for Protecting Student Data Privacy and Equity in the Pandemic

On October 27, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and 23 other education, healthcare, disability rights, data protection, and civil liberties organizations today released Education During a Pandemic: Principles for Student Data Privacy and Equity. The Principles offer 10 guiding recommendations for schools as they rely on new technologies and data to facilitate remote, in-person, or hybrid learning models during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the pandemic worsens and schools continue to shift between remote learning, in-person learning, and hybrid approaches, it has become clear that there is a need for a set of guiding principles to serve all schools. The group of stakeholders developed its 10 recommendations to help guide schools as they navigate an unprecedented and evolving situation in the 2020-2021 school year. The Future of Privacy Forum and the Bazelon Center were primary drafters of the principles. Read the press release (PDF) here. Read the Principles here.

Bazelon Center and Other Disability Organizations Send Letter to Senate in Opposition to Nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett

Read the Opposition Nomination letter (PDF) here.

Bazelon Center and 14 Other Disability and Civil Rights Organizations Urge Chief Justices to Endorse Bar Applicants’ Diploma Privilege During Pandemic

Today (October 6), the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, together with fourteen other disability and civil rights groups, sent a letter to the Conference of Chief Justices urging the conference to endorse the widespread adoption of temporary diploma privilege, for individuals applying for admission to the bar during the ongoing pandemic. In-person bar examinations during the COVID-19 pandemic pose a significant danger for communities of color and people with disabilities because of the disproportionate infection and death rates in those communities. This policy would allow qualified law school graduates to practice law without sitting for the bar exam during the pandemic. Read the press release here (PDF). Read the letter (PDF) here.

Bazelon Center and More Than 50 Other Disability Organizations Send Letter to Senate in Opposition to Nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett

Today (October 5), the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, together with more than 50 other organizations representing people with disabilities, sent a letter to the Senate leadership, urging them to reject the nomination of Judge Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The coalition also states that Congress should not act on any nomination to the Supreme Court until it has passed and the President has signed a COVID-19 relief bill. Read the letter (PDF).

Bazelon Center Releases Review of Amy Coney Barrett’s Record on Issues Affecting People with Disabilities

Today (September 30), the Bazelon Center released a new report reviewing the U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s record on issues affecting people with disabilities. The review outlines her judicial decisions and other writings on healthcare/the Affordable Care Act, the “public charge” rule, and other disability rights issues. Read the full report here (PDF).

HHS OCR Resolves Federal Complaint Filed Against State of Utah by Bazelon Center and Partners

Today (August 20), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of a federal complaint filed against Utah. The complaint, brought by the Utah Disability Law Center and a coalition of national groups— the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, The Arc of the United States, Center for Public Representation, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and Samuel Bagenstos—is one of nearly a dozen complaints that have been brought nationwide challenging states’ plans for rationing medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic as discriminating against people with disabilities. Today’s resolution sets a national precedent, with OCR building off earlier resolutions of complaints regarding plans in Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee and weighing in on the discriminatory impact of a number of provisions common in many states’ rationing plans. Read the announcement. Read the press release (PDF). Read the original complaint (PDF).

Bazelon Center and Partners File Lawsuit against Alameda County for Its Failed Mental Health System

Today (July 30), the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, along with Disability Rights California (DRC), Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and the Oakland-based law firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho filed a federal lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) against Alameda County and Alameda Health System. The lawsuit challenges the unnecessary and illegal segregation of people with mental health disabilities — especially Black people with disabilities — in psychiatric institutions and the failure to ensure people with disabilities are provided the services they need. Read the press release (PDF). Read the complaint (PDF). A video providing an overview of the lawsuit is available, with personal stories of people who have faced institutionalization in Alameda County.

Bazelon Center and Partners File Federal Complaints Challenging Crisis Standard of Care Plans in COVID-19 Hotspots Arizona and Texas

(July 23) A coalition of state and national disability and civil rights advocacy groups have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) challenging the crisis standard of care plans in Arizona and Texas, two states hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. These crisis plans are used to decide who receives life-saving treatment. Along with state partners, the national groups—the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, The Arc, the Center for Public Representation, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and Justice in Aging—argue that the plans discriminate against people with disabilities, older adults, and people of color, placing these communities at risk of substantial and imminent harm—and the real risk of being denied basic and emergency treatment—during the pandemic. Read the press release (PDF). Read the Arizona complaint (PDF). Read the Texas complaint (PDF).

July 20 Letter from Bazelon Center, ACLU, Disability Rights Maryland and NAACP-LDF Demands Urgent Action Following Baltimore Police Shooting of Ricky Walker Jr.

(Updated July 22) The Bazelon Center decries the July 1 shooting of Mr. Ricky Walker, Jr., a Black Baltimore resident with mental health issues, by Baltimore City police officers responding to a 9-1-1 call at his family’s home. Yesterday, Bazelon, Disability Rights Maryland, the ACLU of Maryland, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund sent a letter to Baltimore’s mayor, police commissioner, State’s Attorney, and the CEO of Baltimore’s behavioral health authority demanding that they take immediate action to prevent more tragedies like Mr. Walker’s. The letter asks that Baltimore’s 9-1-1 system dispatch non-law enforcement mobile crisis teams on calls responding to individuals in crisis, and that Baltimore expand and enhance its behavioral health system, including its crisis response system but also longer-term supports, including housing services. Bazelon calls on Baltimore and all communities to consider a reduced role for the police and additional spending on community-based measures that promote the well-being of all. Read the press release (PDF). Read the full letter (PDF).

HHS OCR Resolves Federal Complaint Filed Against State of Tennessee by Bazelon Center and Partners

Today (June 26), the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of a federal complaint filed against Tennessee, one of nearly a dozen complaints filed by a coalition of national disability advocates – the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Center for Public Representation, The Arc of the United States, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and Samuel Bagenstos — challenging states’ plans for rationing medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic as discriminating against people with disabilities. Medical rationing policies have disproportionately impacted Black people with disabilities, who have higher rates of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization. Today’s resolution sets a national precedent, with OCR building off earlier resolutions of complaints regarding Alabama’s and Pennsylvania’s plans and weighing in for the first time on the discriminatory impact of a number of provisions common in many states’ rationing plans. Read the announcement (PDF). Read the press release (PDF). Read the original complaint (PDF).

Bazelon Center and Partners File Preliminary Injunction Addressing Undue COVID-19 Risk at Mental Health Facilities

The Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Connecticut Legal Rights Project, and Center for Public Representation this week (June 10) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in a class action case challenging Connecticut’s failure to take adequate steps to protect residents of two state psychiatric hospitals from contracting and dying from COVID-19. Both hospitals, Connecticut Valley Hospital (CVH) and Whiting Forensic Hospital (WFH), have had outbreaks of the virus. Five patients at CVH have died from COVID-19. At CVH and WFH, Defendants have confirmed 73 cases of COVID-19 among patients and 64 cases among staff, since testing began. Read the full press release (PDF).

Bazelon Center and Eighteen Other Leading National Disability Rights Organizations File Amicus Brief in California v. Texas, Defending the Affordable Care Act

This week (May 13), the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, American Association of People with Disabilities, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and 16 other leading disability rights organizations, represented pro bono by law firms Dentons and Baker Hostetler, filed an amicus brief with the US Supreme Court highlighting the crucial health care protections that Congress provided for people with disabilities in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA prevented people from being denied coverage or charged more due to pre-existing conditions and made coverage of needed services available and affordable to millions of people with disabilities for the first time. In March, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, formerly known as Texas v. US and now known as California v. Texas, which it will hear in the fall. Read the full press release (PDF). Read the amicus brief (PDF).

Bazelon Center and Partners Release Guidance on COVID-19 Hospital Visitation Policies

Today (May 15), the Bazelon Center and partners have released a guide setting forth what hospitals and doctors’ offices must do to comply with the ADA and other disability rights laws when there are no-visitor policies in place due to COVID. The guide explains the requirement to make reasonable modifications to such policies and to allow a person to bring someone else to support them when necessary to accommodate the person’s disability. Read the guide (PDF).

Bazelon Center Joins Connecticut Legal Rights Project in Federal Class Action Lawsuit Addressing the Spread of COVID-19 in Two Connecticut Psychiatric Hospitals

Yesterday (May 7) the Bazelon Center joined the Connecticut Legal Rights Project in a federal class action lawsuit addressing the spread of COVID-19 in two Connecticut psychiatric hospitals, where patients face grave risks to their health and safety as a result of the facilities failure to take adequate measures to protect residents, in violation of the Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other laws. The plaintiffs ask the state to take steps to ensure the safety of patients in two state psychiatric hospitals by discharging individuals to community services and ensuring adequate safety measures for those remaining in the hospitals. Read the complaint.

Bazelon Center Urges Decrease of Number of Individuals in Psychiatric Hospitals during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous health risks for people confined in psychiatric hospitals. Today (April 15), the Bazelon Center released a statement urging states and localities to decrease the number of individuals in psychiatric hospitals during this pandemic by reducing admissions and accelerating discharges. Read a copy of the statement (PDF)

Bazelon Center and Partners Release Rationing Evaluation Tool

Together with other partners, the Bazelon Center today (April 9) released a tool for evaluating Crisis Standard of Care plans that ration scarce medical resources, in order to determine whether they comply with federal laws prohibiting disability discrimination. The tool contains six questions that are useful for scrutinizing these rationing plans. It is a companion to the guidance (PDF) that we and our partners released on April 3, 2020 applying HHS Office of Civil Rights’ bulletin concerning disability discrimination in medical rationing schemes. The tool, “Evaluation Framework For Crisis Standard of Care Plans,” is available to download (PDF). (Updated 11/30/20)

Alabama Withdraws Discriminatory Ventilator Rationing Policy and Issues Directive About Non-Discrimination in Accessing Life-Saving Treatment

On April 8, in response to a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) by the Alabama Disability Advocacy Program (ADAP), the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, and other disability rights advocates, the state of Alabama has withdrawn its discriminatory ventilator rationing policy and instructed hospitals across the state that they cannot discriminate against people with disabilities in accessing treatment. The previous policy placed the lives of disabled adults and children at serious risk, in violation of federal law, by ordering hospitals to “not offer mechanical ventilator support for patients” with “severe or profound mental retardation,” “moderate to severe dementia,” and “severe traumatic brain injury.” Read the Press Release (PDF) and read the original complaint (PDF).

Bazelon Center Statement on the Urgency of Reducing the Jail Population During the COVID-19 Crisis

Today, April 6, 2020, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law released a statement urging all jurisdictions to: (1) Immediately release a majority of the individuals with mental illness held in jails, and (2) Take immediate steps to divert from jail the majority of individuals with mental illness who are arrested. Read the Bazelon Center Statement (PDF).

Large Coalition of National Disability and Health Advocacy Organizations Endorse Guidance On Preventing Disability Discrimination in COVID-19 Treatment Rationing

The Bazelon Center and partners released today (April 3) a guidance document for states and hospitals on avoiding disability discrimination in the event of rationing of life-saving medical treatment. The guidance is based on the bulletin that the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights issued on March 28 concerning the requirements of federal disability rights laws in the context of rationing scarce medical treatment. The guidance explains how the principles in HHS’s bulletin would apply in practical terms, what those principles mean for covered entities developing and implementing rationing protocols, and what concrete steps can be taken to comply with federal law. The guidance is endorsed by nearly 90 national disability rights organizations. Read the press release (PDF) and the guidance (PDF) here.

Bazelon Center and Partners File Additional Complaints of Disability Discrimination in COVID-19 Treatment Rationing

On Tuesday, March 24, the Bazelon Center, together with the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, the Arc of the United States, the Center for Public Representation, and Samuel Bagenstos, filed a complaint today with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) contending that Alabama’s ventilator rationing plan discriminates against people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other laws. The complainants are ADAP and The Arc, on behalf of Alabamians with intellectual and cognitive disabilities who will likely die if medical professionals are allowed to withhold health care services from them on the basis of their disabilities. The complaints ask HHS to take immediate action to address this discrimination and assist local jurisdictions and providers to develop non-discriminatory approaches before there are lethal consequences to application of these illegal policies. The day before, we filed a complaint challenging Washington state’s discriminatory scheme to ration COVID-19 treatment. Read the Press Release (PDF)..

On Friday, March 27, we filed two additional complaints for the states of Kansas (PDF) and Tennessee (PDF). Read more about our Kansas complaint (PDF) and the Tennessee complaint (PDF).

JOIN THE COALITION FOR SMART SAFETY AND THE CONSORTIUM FOR CITIZENS WITH DISABILITIES RIGHTS TASK FORCE ON FEBRUARY 3, 2020 FOR HOUSE AND SENATE-SIDE BRIEFINGS

January 30, 2020 – On February 3, 2020, the Coalition for Smart Safety, a coalition of mental health, disability, civil rights, education, and privacy groups convened by the Bazelon Center and the National Disability Rights Network, together with the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Rights Task Force, is hosting congressional briefings titled Debunking the Myths: Mental Health and Gun Violence. The House side briefing, presented in conjunction with Representatives Langevin and Napolitano, will be at 1 pm. The Senate side briefing, presented in cooperation with Senators Blumenthal and Casey, will be at 3 pm. See the invitations for details on the speakers and RSVP.

2/3/20 – Debunking The Myths: Mental Health and Gun Violence (PDF) – 1 PM House-side Briefing Invite and RSVP (PDF)

2/3/20 – Debunking The Myths: Mental Health and Gun Violence – 3 PM Senate-side Briefing Invite and RSVP (PDF)

THE BAZELON CENTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH LAW: DIVERSION TO WHAT? EVIDENCE-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES THAT PREVENT NEEDLESS INCARCERATION

October 1, 2019 – The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law has released a report describing the essential community mental health services that must be expanded to divert people with significant psychiatric disabilities from the criminal justice system: Diversion to What? Evidence-Based Mental Health Services That Prevent Needless Incarceration (PDF).

Diversion to What? is designed to provide guidance to stakeholders engaged in efforts to reduce incarceration of people with psychiatric disabilities, laying out the types of services that should be the focus of such efforts. The report describes what those services do and how they are structured, and identifies the evidence demonstrating their success in reducing incarceration.

Download the “Diversion to What?” (PDF). The Bazelon Center gratefully acknowledges essential support for this report provided by the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge and the Ford Foundation.