The Guardian is reporting that vulnerable UK residents, including people with Down’s Syndrome and those with severe, profound and mild learning disabilities have been given “Do not resuscitate” (DNR) notices when they have taken ill with Covid-19.
DNR’s are usually made for people too frail to benefit from CPR, but Mencap said some DNR’s seem to have been issued for people simply because they had a learning disability.
According to Public Health England, young people with learning difficulties aged 18-34 are 30 times more likely to die from Covid than others of the same age.
This group of vulnerable patients were also targeted last year and an urgent investigation by MENCAP was initiated. The Care Quality Commission said in December that inappropriate Don Not Resuscitate (DNR) notices caused potentially avoidable deaths last year.
This year however, MENCAP has received a number of reports from people with learning disabilities who outlined they were told that they would not be resuscitated if they contracted Covid-19.
Apart for the DNR concerns, there are major concerns in the UK that people with learning disabilities are being ignored when it comes to vaccinations rollout also.
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