Maryland Enacts Law Banning Disability-Based Discrimination in Organ Transplantation

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently approved the Minnesota Department of Human Service’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention benefit.  The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism.  Maryland becomes the third state to enact such legislation, joining New Jersey and California.

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s policy brief on discrimination in organ transplants has brought this issue to light. According to the policy brief, “Legislation banning disability-based discrimination in organ transplantation should explicitly include the following points: a) a prohibition against discriminating against people with disabilities that are not medically relevant to the transplantation process; b) clarification that support services should be considered when assessing the ability of a transplantation candidate to comply with postoperative procedures, and c) the scope of services and health care interactions relevant to the law, including referrals, evaluation and recommendation for access to the transplantation list.” The research described in the brief also found that “people with significant developmental disabilities are routinely denied life-saving organ transplants for no reason other than their disability.”

FMI go to http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2015RS/bills/hb/hb1122f.pdf.