#NoBodyIsDisposable Media and Events

#NoBodyIsDisposable
in the Media

Even during a Pandemic, Fatphobia Won’t Take a Day Off

April 21, 2020. BITCH

On March 15, 2020, as COVID-19 spread throughout Washington state, neurologist Scott Mintzer’s now-deleted tweet ignited a social-media firestorm: “Seattle has 12 machines, which is less than what’s needed. So a central committee there is deciding: You can’t go on [an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine] if you’re [over] 40 years old, if you have another organ system failing, or…incredibly…if your [body mass index] is [over] 25. Turns out these are all major poor prognostic signs.” Mintzer’s tweet panicked some fat people, who began posting about their fear of being denied ventilators if they contract COVID-19. In late March the hashtags #NoBodyIsDisposable and #NoICUgenics began trending on Twitter, with users calling on government officials to distribute more medical equipment and asking hospitals to not let marginalized people—fat, disabled, HIV positive, chronically ill, elderly—die.  ( read more )

Disabled advocates fear discrimination, supply rationing amid coronavirus pandemic

April 9, 2020. KTVU

OAKLAND, Calif. – Disability rights advocates and lawyers are preparing to combat and mediate discrimination in hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic that puts disabled people at the back of the line to receive care, or threatens their existing, life-saving care.

Medical rationing, and policies which sanction it, based on disability, is already present across the country. California disability advocates, attorneys and organizers are taking action against the illegal practice before hospitals become completely overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. (read more)