Midwest hospital chain SSM Health has stopped its practice of using race as its determining factor for providing priority on giving COVID treatment after it received a legal threat from a nonprofit conservative law firm.

Lawyers at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty sent a letter to SSM on Friday, warning that it is illegal to distribute monoclonal antibody products based on race, according to a Fox News report.

The letter noted a December 31 email to physicians of SSM health that referenced a risk scoring calculator, citing non-White patients received a seven-point head start out of 20 total.

They were, therefore, more likely to receive life-saving medical treatment than White patients with comorbidities or symptoms.

Attorneys argued using examples that a 50-year-old white female suffering from obesity, asthma, and hypertension would not be eligible for the COVID treatment as she did not receive the 20-point minimum score under the calculator.

Meanwhile, another 50-year-old African-American female without any of the health risks would be eligible.

The lawyers described the pointing system as "unethical and immoral," as well as being "illegal."

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SSM Health's COVID Treatment Prioritization

SSM Health CEO Laura Kaiser responded on the issue, saying that the calculator that was mentioned by the lawyers was outdated and no longer in use, according to a Daily Mail report.

Kaiser added that early versions of risk calculators across the country included race and gender criteria based on initial results.

The CEO said that the Midwest hospital has continued to update their protocols weekly to show the updates in clinical evidence available, which as a result, race and gender criteria are no longer used.

The hospital chain earlier said that the "ethical justification" for the use of race on giving COVID treatment has had a disproportionate effect on low-income communities and certain racial/ethnic minorities in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted that racial and ethnic minority groups have been disproportionately affected.

Black and Latino Communities Amid COVID Pandemic

Healthcare think tank Kaiser Family Foundation said that Black and Hispanic people have been less likely than their white counterparts to receive a vaccine. However, disparities have narrowed over time, especially for Latinos.

The think tank said that White people account for the largest share of people who remain unvaccinated, according to a Market Watch report.

CDC noted that 60 percent of White and Hispanic people had gotten at least one COVID vaccine dose, with Black people at 54 percent.

Meanwhile, a peer-reviewed published in the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health found that minority status and English-speaking ability were key factors in reducing access to COVID vaccines.

Elise Gould and Valerie Wilson, economists with the Economic Policy Institute, noted that Black workers face two of the most "lethal preexisting conditions" for COVID, citing racism and economic inequality.

They noted that persistent racial gaps in access to healthcare, wealth, employment, housing, and incoming, among other factors have all contributed to greater "susceptibility to the virus."

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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