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TWIN CITIES, MN PERMIT NO. 4766
Volume 30, Number 10
October 10, 2019
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Class action ruling a win for community
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CLASS ACTION To page 3
The hearing room for the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee was at capacity September 11 where several bills had informational hearings.
Physician-assisted suicide bill faces uncertain fate at capitol by Access Press staff Should people with terminal illness be allowed to end their own lives with the help of doctors and other medical professionals? Or would state law allowing such a practice be misused, to end the lives of vulnerable people? Would people with disabilities become targeted under such a law? More than 200 people filled hearing rooms September 11 to hear debate on the highly emotional and controversial proposal under consideration by the Minnesota House. The hearing before the House Health and Human Services Policy Committee was informational, and went on for hours. No vote was taken. State lawmakers don’t go back into session until February 2020. Dozens of organizations are weighing in,
with some in support, others in opposition and still others offering qualified support if there are ways to prevent abuse of such a law. How to describe physician-assisted suicide is even up for debate, as shown by the stickers worn September 11. Bill foes wore “no assisted suicide" stickers. Supporters wore stickers stating, “I support end-of-life options.” Support and opposition to the proposal among lawmakers somewhat splits along party lines. Several House DFLers support such a bill, pointing to measures in place in eight other states. Current and past Minnesota proposals are modeled against one used in Oregon for more than 20 years. The bill likely won’t get very far in the Senate as Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham END OF LIFE BILL To page 15
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Support disability community journalism with your donation The Friends of Access Press group has extended its generous matching gift program for the newspaper’s readers, supporters and stakeholders. Through the end of the year, the program will match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $10,000, doubling your opportunity to promote disability awareness, influence policymaking, enhance services and programs, and increase accessibility for people with disabilities. Please do not miss this chance for a 100 percent match of your donation. For the past three years, I have been proud and delighted to serve on the Board of Directors of Access Press, the only organization of its type in Minnesota and one of 12 newspapers in the nation devoted to disability affairs. For nearly 30 years, Access Press has been an outstanding voice for all Minnesotans with disabilities and their families, addressing critical issues such as discrimination, independent living, benefits, poverty, human rights, employment, transportation, education, housing, crime, arts, culture, sports and other life aspects. I share my fellow board members’ enthusiasm for improving the lives of our fellow Minnesotans with disabilities as we strive to keep our organization and newspaper alive in the face of financial challenges. I urge you to contribute what you can to keep this voice functioning. The community of people with disabilities is the most disadvantaged group in nearly all quality-of-life measures, and the gap remains wide between people with disabilities and people without disabilities. This community is also the only group that could include anyone at some point in life. According to the Social Security Administration, 3 in 10 of today's 20-year-olds are expected to suffer one or more forms of disability before reaching 67, and nearly 69 percent of the private sector workforce has no
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A key ruling has been made in a court case involving Minnesotans with disabilities who live or lived in corporate adult foster care or group homes. On September 27 a U.S. District Court ruling declared that the policies and practices of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) are violating these Minnesotans’ constitutionally protected due process rights. The ruling also allows the case to proceed to trial, as a motion by DHS to have the rest of the case dismissed was denied. The 40-page ruling also urges both sides to reach an agreement in the case. U.S. District Court Judge Donovan Frank granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, indicating that DHS is violating the due process guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Medicaid Act by failing to inform persons with disabilities that they are being denied a service to help them move to and live in the community. The ruling stated that DHS’s current policies and practices unlawfully force individuals to “wait indefinitely for requested services, never receiving an explanation on the status of the request, and without an opportunity to appeal” those service denials. The case was filed in 2016 on behalf of Tenner Murphy, by his guardian Kay Murphy; Marrie Bottelson; Dionne Swanson; and on behalf of others similarly situated. The DHS commissioner, which has changed over that time, is the defendant. Jodi Harpstead was recently appointed to that position by Gov. Tim Walz. Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) Disability Law Center is the lead attorney for Murphy. At the center of the Murphy versus Harpstead case is the desire by people with disabilities to make changes to Minnesota’s Medicaid service system, so that they may live more independent and integrated lives in the community. As the case proceeds through the court system the plaintiffs will be able to argue that their legal claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Medicaid Act will be allowed to proceed to trial. In denying DHS’ motion for summary judgment, Frank determined that “a systemwide remedy is the only way to provide relief” to improve the lives of people who seek to move out of group homes but are unable to do so under Minnesota’s current system. The case is a class action. Court documents indicate that some people covered by the class action have been placed in appropriate community settings. State officials counter that of the 45,438 disability waiver recipients in 2018, only 31 percent lived in group homes, and only 1.3 percent of those living in the facilities are putative class members. State officials argue that they are not over-relying on group homes and that the policies cited in the case don’t prevent people from moving to their preferred settings. DHS also contends that its policies and practices do comply with federal law and that if any alleged harm has occurred, the commissioner may not be held liable in her official capacity.
MN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES/ANDRES VONBANK
by Access Press staff
Access Press founder Charlie Smith, Jr. long-term disability insurance. Furthermore, the most recent American Community Survey (ACS) dataset revealed the following characteristics of the underserved population with disabilities in Minnesota: Disability prevalence: In 2017, roughly 11 percent of Minnesota’s population, or 610,000 of the 5,521,400 residents of all ages, reported one or more disabilities. In addition, an estimated 5 percent (220,400) of Minnesotans age 15 and older have independent living disability, while 2.2 percent (115,600) of Minnesotans
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