On Disabilities

The fight to save the life of one woman reveals a grim pattern: In Oregon, people with disabilities were denied health care during the pandemic, even without a shortage of ventilators or other care.

During a pandemic, doctors make hard choices about who gets care. Federal law says they can't rule out someone based on disability or age. But some worry the decisions are made behind closed doors.

As the first patient to receive an experimental treatment that relied on the gene-editing technique CRISPR continues to do well 17 months later, more patients seem to be benefiting, too.

In an Oregon hospital, a disabled woman fought for her life as her friends and advocates pleaded for proper care. Her case raises the question: Are disabled lives equally valued during a pandemic?

A newly approved drug can extend the lives of children with progeria, a rare disorder that causes rapid aging. The drug is the result of one family's effort to help a child with the fatal condition.