Washington D.C., Jun 9, 2020 / 13:00 pm
Federal health officials say they hope the resolution of a disability rights case will help ensure hospital patients are not deprived of necessary support during treatment, or left to die alone.
"We've heard too many heart-wrenching stories of people literally dying alone during this crisis," Roger Severino, head of the HHS Office of Civil Rights told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday.
Respecting public health concerns through visitation restrictions should be balanced with other critical needs, Severino said, such as disabled patients having access to support persons and all patients having "access to clergy in their last moments."
The HHS, he said, has already issued guidance that "there should be access to persons in those end-of-life situations." In a bulletin published on March 28, OCR instructed hospitals and other health care providers to respect "requests for religious accommodations in treatment and access to clergy or faith practices as practicable."