“Dying From Poor Healthcare”

It is a sad reality that Australians with disability are likely to die four times earlier than the rest of the population, not because of their disability, but the entrenched discriminatory practices within our healthcare system.

Finlay Browne was only 16 years old when he died. Tthe teenager died due to complications from a bowel obstruction, and noted “issues concerning the adequacy of care and treatment” provided at his local hospital.

Despite this, the official cause of death recorded on Finlay’s death certificate is Down Syndrome.

Since his death, Finlay’s family have become fierce advocates for the need to improve healthcare for people with intellectual disability.

Sadly, Finlay is not alone. A new study published by The Lancet Public Health has revealed that Australians with disability, are likely to die four times earlier than the rest of the population.

Census data from more than 15 million Australians aged 0–74 between 2011–20, and analysed death certificate information of those who died during this period (around 463,000 people).

People with disabilities are dying from cancer heart disease, chronic lung conditions and diabetes at a much higher rate than the rest of the population.

The diseases causing the early deaths of many Australians with disability are generally more common among people living in disadvantaged circumstances. We know poverty, poor-quality housing and exclusion from the health system contribute to early death. These circumstances are more common among Australians with disability compared to the overall population.

While people with disability face many of the same issues as other Australians, such as poverty, inadequate housing, lack of availabilty within the healthcare system, rising costs and long waiting list, they also face additional barriers to healthcare.

These additional barriers include inaccessible healthcare facilities-buildings with only stairs and no wheelchair access, experiencing discrimination by medical professionals eg: GPS’ and nurses or other hospital staff, and a lack of collaboration between multiple health professionals involved in the care of individual patients.

The recent Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability heard direct evidence from people with disabiliy and their families, about the poor health outcomes of people with disability derived from the Australian healthcare system. These outcomes in some instances, include the early death of a person with a disability.

Historically, understanding patterns in causes of death has informed our public health priorities. But up until now, patterns in causes of death for people with disability have largely not been prioritised, gathered or analysed. With inadequate data, public health efforts have systematically neglected people with disability.

Yet poorer health outcomes for people with disability are not inevitable.

There needs to be a concerted efforts across Australia, both in regional towns and metropolitan areas to prevent the unnecessary deaths of people with disabilities. As a nation, we need to tackle the issues that affect the lives of people with disability- poverty, the lack of accessible transport, social isolation, the rising costs of living and accessible housing.

But, none of this will be enough if we don’t confront discrimination in health care head on. This will involve making changes in policies, processes and systems at all levels of health care that adjust for the needs of people with disability.

We also need to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for people with disabilities.

Ultimately, we need to debunk the myth that poor health is part and parcel of having a disability. What is inevitable is that Australians with disability will keep dying before their time unless we take action, and make the health and wellbeing of people with disability a national priority.