United Spinal Association is saddened and outraged by the events surrounding the death of Michael Hickson, age 46, in Austin, Texas on June 11, 2020. Mr. Hickson, a black man and a father of five, was a quadriplegic and had a brain injury due to a sudden cardiac arrest while driving in 2017.
Mr. Hickson had contracted COVID-19 at a nursing home in Austin. He was receiving treatment at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center when physicians informed Mr. Hickson’s wife, in a conversation that was recorded by Mrs. Hickson, that they were discontinuing treatment against her wishes.
For six days, Mr. Hickson was denied food, water, and medical treatment for the pneumonia that had developed in both of his lungs. Doctors had decided not to put Mr. Hickson on a ventilator despite the pleas of his wife to save him. Mr. Hickson suffered cruelly and unnecessarily because a physician who did not consult his spouse judged him with a preconceived version of his quality of life.
As the largest non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of all people living with spinal cord injuries and disorders, United Spinal Association has been concerned, from the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, about the potential for discrimination in health care treatment based on a person’s disability. United Spinal Association, in collaboration with other disability rights organizations, were successful in urging the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services to issue federal guidance on March 28, 2020 to states and health care providers on their responsibilities under federal law not to discriminate against people with disabilities in the provision of health care.
Evidently, the medical team charged with Mr. Hickson’s treatment failed to recognize, despite that recent warning, that federal civil rights law does not allow for health care providers to make treatment decisions based on quality of life assessments or personal views about disability or race but strictly on an individualized assessment of the individual.
United Spinal Association calls on the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as all relevant authorities, to investigate the circumstances of Mr. Hickson’s death.
United Spinal Association offers our heartfelt condolences to Michael Hickson’s wife, Melissa, and their five children.
James Weisman
President & CEO, United Spinal Association