Alarming new evidence has emerged that doctors secretly issued “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) orders for Down syndrome patients who tested positive for COVID-19.
The orders with issued with the consent or knowledge of the patients or their families.
The explosive findings were revealed in a press release from Dr. Stephanie Santoro, assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
According to Santoro’s findings, Down syndrome patients and other disabled people were issued with DNR orders in an apparent effort to boost the numbers of “Covid deaths.”
Previous investigations have found that people with disabilities were at least twice as likely to die during the pandemic if they tested positive for Covid in a hospital.
However, Santoro’s new study reveals that patients with Down syndrome, specifically, were even more likely to die.
Down syndrome patients were increasingly given DNR orders at much higher rates than the able-bodied population.
Santoro, who is also the director of quality improvement research for the Down Syndrome Program at Mass General, and co-author of the new study, said people with Down syndrome and a diagnosis of COVID-19 – or COVID pneumonia – were six times more likely to be given DNRs than similar patients without Down syndrome.
Speaking about her reasoning behind the study, Santoro said:
“It seems like a lifetime ago, but early in the pandemic, extreme steps like rationing ventilators were being discussed.
“In the Down syndrome community, there was a lot of worry, of wanting to protect the rights of people with Down syndrome.”
People with Down syndrome are known to get sicker and need more support when they contract respiratory infections.
Santoro said the research team had to ensure the DNRs weren’t being given merely because the prognosis for someone with Down syndrome was so much poorer.
“We tried to compare some comorbidities – like intubation rates, if they had been in the ICU, or if they had come from acute care – but it didn’t pan out to have a similarly high odds ratio as the diagnosis of Down syndrome,” she said.
“Might people or their families be choosing DNR status when admitted with high acuity, life-threatening disease?
“We also wondered whether the folks with Down syndrome were older or if there was some other intervening covariable that would explain the high odds ratio of DNR status.
“But we couldn’t find anything that explained it.”
Though there are health conditions known to be associated with Down syndrome, medical advancements have been able to address many of them.
“[I]n general, people with Down syndrome are leading healthy, happy, productive lives,” Santoro said.
“I think the DNR status rate should likely be the same as for people without Down syndrome.”
This study is not an anomaly, however.
A major investigation in the United Kingdom likewise found that people with disabilities were being pressured to sign DNRs during the pandemic.
Additionally, the U.S. National Institute for Health (NIH) and Care Excellence also told doctors that they should assess patients with disabilities for “frailty” before deciding whether or not they could be given life-saving treatments.
“[T]he thing that caused me more distress was when the government decided they were going to publish the frailty guidance,” one survey respondent said.
“I looked to see how frail I am and am I going to be offered a ventilator if I need one.
“The reality according to that guidance was no, not necessarily.
“And, then thinking how can I prove my worth to people to make sure I get that treatment if needed.”
READ MORE – Tens of Thousands of Elderly Secretly Euthanized to Boost ‘Covid Deaths’
https://slaynews.com/news/doctors-down-syndrome-covid-patients-do-not-resuscitate-orders-without-consent/
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