Executive order touches upon NCD’s bioethics report series

WASHINGTON — A presidential executive order given Sept. 25 on protecting vulnerable newborn and infant children touches upon many themes in the bioethics and disability report series issued last year by the National Council on Disability (NCD).

Part of the executive order signed by President Donald J. Trump specifies, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize the human dignity and inherent worth of every newborn or other infant child, regardless of prematurity or disability, and to ensure for each child due protection under the law.”

NCD recently explored how people, including children, with disabilities are impacted by biases and assumptions in some of the most critical healthcare issues we face.

Last fall, NCD published a series of five reports on bioethics and disability, and included recommendations to policymakers emphasizing the importance of due process protections and compliance with existing federal anti-discrimination laws within medical decision making. These reports were on the topics of medical futility; organ transplantation; quality-adjusted life years (QALYs); genetic testing; and assisted suicide.

The reports are available at NCD.gov.

Read the executive order at whitehouse.gov.

The National Council on Disability (NCD) – an independent federal agency– makes recommendations to the White House, Congress and federal agencies on national disability policy.

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