Disabled Black Lives Dismissed

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TRANSCRIPT

"Happy Birthday ... ." said Michael Hickson, from his hospital bed.

In Austin, Texas, St. David's South Austin Medical Center staff made the decision to remove treatment from Michael Hickson, and on June 11, Hickson died after being denied food and treatment for six days.

While law enforcement professionals endure blistering criticism for their training and accusations of "systemic racism," many critics largely ignore the many African Americans — including Carolyn Jones and Tinslee Lewis — who have been victimized by decree from a callous medical center.

Melissa Hickson: "He was driving me to work. He went into sudden cardiac arrest. So he passed out at the wheel. Paramedics came to get him. They started CPR. It took over an hour so he did suffer an anoxic brain injury as a result of it. They moved him to Brush Country Nursing Home in Austin and that is where he contracted COVID[-19]."

In 2015, Texas passed a law banning hospitals from starving their patients, but St. David's seemingly found a way around it: "They believed he was aspirating and they didn't want to give him a tube to feed."

In March, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops took steps to preserve the state's medical policies by requesting authorities lift penalties against medical workers who prioritize one patient over another in treating the Wuhan virus.

Pro-life group Texas Right to Life is fighting these policies but continues to meet resistance from the state's bishops and "faux-life" organizations more interested in protecting the law, rather than black patients.

"I want people to be aware doctors are making these kinds of decisions based on people that are seniors, people that are minorities, people that are disabled."

Editor's note: Transcript updated to reflect incident occurred at South Austin branch of St. David's Medical Center.

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