On Tuesday, GOP Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky filed legislation that would bar hospitals from obtaining government funding if they refused to treat unvaccinated patients, according to Fox News Digital.
The “COVID-19 Vaccination Non-Discrimination Bill,” a proposed law, aims to make healthcare organizations responsible by preventing federal funding.
Tuesday, Paul posted on Twitter, “I am leading the fight to hold taxpayer-funded health organizations accountable for refusing unvaccinated people crucial care.”
“No American should be refused access to crucial care based on a personal medical choice,” Paul said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Tragically, though, many hospitals as well as other medical facilities still discriminate against people who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine.”
According to him, “The COVID-19 Vaccination Non-Discrimination Act will defend the rights of vulnerable patients to be able to make their own personal health care decisions and make sure that federal taxpayer monies do not fund facilities that turn patients away based upon their COVID-19 vaccination status.”
The legislation’s sponsor in the House, GOP Rep. Dan Bishop from North Carolina, referred to the denial of essential medical treatment based on vaccination status as an “injustice.”
“There is no justification for medical facilities to refuse to treat patients based on their COVID-19 vaccination status, and there is certainly no justification for those facilities to receive government funding,” according to Bishop.
Although the American Medical Association instructs medical professionals to just provide treatment to all patients regardless of immunization status, there have been occurrences of medical facilities withholding care to the unvaccinated, according to Paul’s office.
Yulia Hicks, a 14-year-old Ukrainian girl, was denied a kidney donation at Duke University Hospital recently on the grounds that she had not got her COVID immunizations.
According to Chrissy Hicks, Yulia’s adoptive mother, “I replied, ‘So essentially you are telling us if she doesn’t receive the vaccine, then she is not receiving a transplant,” in a Dec. interview with Fox News Digital.
The medical worker responded, “Yes, it is the one thing holding us up,” according to Hicks.
Health officials at the Duke University Hospital declined to comment about Hicks’ case but expressed sympathy to any families dealing with a loved one’s critical condition. The health care system is “dedicated to making organ transplant available to as many eligible individuals as possible,” officials continued.
