Tory war on the disabled intensifies as people with muscular dystrophy are denied ventilators
No ventilator for you: it seems the government is ensuring that only able-bodied people with coronavirus can have access to a ventilator. The rest can die as a result of the Tories’ refusal to make proper preparations at the appropriate time.
If the Conservative government had made proper preparations for a pandemic, people with illnesses like muscular dystrophy would not be denied treatment now.
But the Tories didn’t make proper preparations. Did they always intend to deprive those of us with long-term illnesses and disabilities of treatment?
And will it put these lives in danger? If so, when will the mainstream media pay attention to the harm being done as a consequence of this failure by a Conservative government?
The lives of people with muscular dystrophy are being risked because NHS trusts like Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust (RBHFT) are prioritising non-disabled people with COVID-19 over those with long-term health conditions.
(Remember that disabled people with Covid-19 are still likely to have “Do Not Attempt Resuscitation” orders hanging over them and are therefore unlikely to see a ventilator either.)
The trust has told people with muscular dystrophy that it will no longer supply them with replacement anti-bacterial filters for the ventilators that keep them alive because stocks are running low and they are being reserved for patients with coronavirus.
(I’m not convinced about this. Covid-19 is a virus – so what good will anti-bacterial filters do?)
If it doesn’t seem clear to you that the Conservatives are using the coronavirus crisis to wage war on people with disabilities, consider the following information from Disability News Service:
It is the latest in a series of cases in which NHS managers or healthcare professionals have appeared to discriminate against disabled people with long-term conditions during the pandemic crisis.
Among incidents that have caused concern have been a care company that said GPs had written to three of its services for people with learning difficulties to say they had decided that all their service-users should be deemed “do not resuscitate” if they became ill with coronavirus.
Another was a Welsh GP surgery which wrote to patients with life-limiting conditions asking if they could complete “do not attempt resuscitation” (DNAR) forms on their behalf, partly so that “scarce ambulance resources can be targeted to the young and fit”.
DNS reported in March how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence had been forced to update guidance on which coronavirus patients should receive intensive care treatment, after concerns raised by disabled activists.
The previous week, DNS had revealed how an NHS critical care consultant appeared to suggest publicly that he and his colleagues would not attempt to resuscitate many older and disabled people if they became seriously ill with coronavirus.
But with coroners being told to ignore the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) in coronavirus-related inquests, what’s to stop the government telling them to ignore the refusal to provide proper care to people with disabilities?
How many people will have to die before the obvious connections are made?
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It is crystal clear the fascist tories are waging war on disabled women and men because this directive from at least two hospital trusts telling women/men with muscular dystrophy they won’t be given replacement anti-bacterial filters is coming from the fascist tory government. Hence dictator boris is responsible for ensuring yet more deaths!!
This fascist directive violates the Human Rights of disabled women and men but as usual fascist tories don’t care because they know challenging this state institutionalised murder of disabled women and men involves a very very long civil court process! Meanwhile more and more elderly women/men, disabled women/men/ other women/men the fascist tories deem to be ‘not value for money’ will die from coronovirus!
The fascist tory government has a duty to ensure there are sufficient ventilators but said duty is not worth paper it was originally written on because government is now ‘business’ not putting human lives first second and last!
Well done fascist tories you’re swiftly murdering all those ‘worthless women and men!’
> I’m not convinced about this. Covid-19 is a virus – so what good will anti-bacterial filters do?
I presume that they would filter out bacteria and fungal spores from the air going into the ventilator and thus prevent them from causing secondary infections in the patient’s lungs.
Many filters can trap large viruses like coronavirus. The 2.5 micron HEPA filter in my face mask is one such.
” … so what good will anti-bacterial filters do? …”
Duh, protect immuno-compromised people from bacterial infection?
Hey – if you don’t know the answer to a question, you ask!
And my understanding of muscular dystrophy is that problems may be caused by a hyperactive immune system, not a weakened one. Treatment is available to modify the immune system without compromising it.
When will the mainstream media pay attention to the harm being done as a consequence of this failure by a Conservative government?
Around the same time as hell freezing over – the recent “Bojob Bung” in the form of no vat to the press has assured a right wing perspective for a very long time.