People with learning disabilities are still being ordered in England to become non-resuscitation (DNR), despite widespread condemnation of the practice that led to an investigation by the Care Quality Commission (CQQ).
Charity, Mencap, told The Guardian that many with learning disabilities said they would not get sick again in January because of their lives due to COVID-19 without their or their family’s permission.
A DNR is a medical instruction that instructs healthcare providers not to perform CPR if a patient stops breathing or if the heart stops.
Edel Harris, CEO of Mencap, told The Guardian: ‘During the pandemic, many people with a learning disability had shocking discrimination and barriers to accessing health care, with inappropriate notices of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) being issued on their files were posted and the cuts of their social care support. “
According to NHS figures, approximately 1,220 people with a learning disability have died from coronavirus since February 2020, including 40 of them during the week ending 29 January 2021.
This comes after a Public Health England report of November 2020 found that those with learning disabilities had a mortality rate of 6.3 times higher than the general population during the first COVID-19 wave.
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Those between the ages of 18 and 34 with learning disabilities are 30 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than others their age, the report said.
Harris told The Guardian: ‘It is unacceptable that within a group of people so badly affected by the pandemic, and that even before Covid died on average more than 20 years younger than the general population, many people felt scared and wonder why they are left out. ‘
The Report on Learning Disability Deaths (LeDer) shows that 65% of people with a learning disability who died of coronavirus in the first wave had a moderate or moderate one.
Those with a severe or severe learning disability are sixth in line for the vaccine. People with mild or moderate learning disabilities are not prioritized. Mencap asked that this be changed.
It is estimated that the inclusion of those with mild to moderate learning disabilities will include only 100,000 to 200,000 people.
In 2018, the British Medical Journal estimated that every year 1,200 people with a learning disability inevitably die in the NHS.