Ethical Considerations in Addressing the Exclusion of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities from Scarce Resource Allocation in the Context of COVID-19

Abstract

The creation of scarce resource allocation policies has had ripple effects throughout communities and health systems as the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increasing concern about access to essential medical services. These scare resource allocation policies have been criticized for commenting on patients’ age, comorbidities, and ability status as factors that should be taken into consideration by health professionals in deciding whether a particular patient should have access to potentially life-saving interventions when these interventions are in short supply. This is of particular significance to the disability community as hospitals and institutions are reviewing these policies in the context of increasing cases once again during the COVID-19 pandemic, where access to resources such as ventilators or therapeutics such as Remdesivir may again be limited. There has been a number of institutions that have already created policies excluding individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) from access to these interventions if they become limited in supply.