This past Friday, pro-lifers began reporting on doctors killing #MichaelHickson. To this point, it has only been picked up by pro-lifers and disability rights activists. That it has been ignored by major media and racial justice activists is a disgrace. 1/ https://www.lifenews.com/2020/06/26/doctors-starved-quadriplegic-coronavirus-patient-to-death-because-of-his-disability/

Michael got COVID-19 and was put in the hospital. A paraplegic who could not walk or easily talk, he clearly interacted with his family, laughing at jokes and enjoying songs. Due to complex disagreements over his care, however, medical decision-making was taken from his wife. 2/

That's when his white doctor decided, along with his appointed guardian, aggressive medical treatment was no longer appropriate for him.

It would have been one thing if the argument was that treatment was burdensome. A case can be made for this when it comes to ventilation. 3/

But the doctor even denied Michael getting the important drug (for COVID patients) remdesivir...despite the fact that it is best used apart from ventilation. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/05/study-remdesivir-benefits-some-covid-19-patients

Why did Michael's doctor deny him this potentially life-saving drug? 4/

He didn't think Michael should live.

Don't believe me? Listen to the legal recording yourself. The doctor says, "Cause as of right now, his quality of life...he doesn't have much of one." And then he confirms he's talking about Michael's disabilities. 5/

The doctor makes several damning statements, but this one takes the cake. After explaining that he'd seen three other patients survive in similar cases, he says quite directly that what makes this case different is that Michael has disabilities the other three did not have. 6/

Dr. Gutierrez is one of the few physicians who have spoken directly about what happened in this case. Her thread below is worth reading in its entirety. Doctors are good at protecting their own, but we need more brave people like her to speak truth. 7/ https://twitter.com/MVGutierrezMD/status/1277263756591017986

Doctors rate quality of life of patients worse than patients do themselves.

And African Americans have long been understandably fearful of explicit and structural racism in medicine, especially at the end of life.

#MichaelHickson's case is a paradigmatic example of both. 8/

We need #medtwitter to confront its racism and ableism.

At this moment, one would think major media and racial justice activists would hold doctors and medicine in general accountable for this. But they aren't.

Again, it appears to be only pro-life and disability activists. 9/

Yesterday, Melissa Hickson released this video begging for help in holding folks accountable. As of now, it has a pathetic 58 views. What a disgrace.

Will no one in power speak up for her or her husband?

Will we really let this man be thrown way? /fin

Yes, this was a topic of my first book.

But that's not what was happening here. The hospital was not even close to being overrun.

Listen to the audio. The doctor was totally clear about what was being evaluated.