Lawsuit alleges UPMC is refusing to provide medical exemptions for school mask mandate

A group of parents and guardians from across Western Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the acting secretaries of the state health and education departments, as well as UPMC, alleging that their children are being illegally denied medical exemptions from the school mask mandate.

Ten plaintiffs from Kittanning, New Castle, Leechburg, Johnstown, Grove City, Apollo, Rural Valley, McKeesport and Hastings filed the complaint.

In it, they acknowledge that the school masking mandate provides an exception “(if) wearing a face covering would either cause a medical condition, or exacerbate an existing one, including respiratory issues that impede breathing, a mental health condition or a disability.”

However, the lawsuit asserts that UPMC and other major healthcare organizations refuse to consider the exemption requests as a matter of policy.

“Because requests for school mask medical exemption evaluations are universally denied, students with medical conditions that are caused by or exacerbated by wearing a face covering are unable to obtain medical exemptions to the face covering requirement,” the lawsuit said.

It appears to be the first complaint of its kind targeting a specific health care or medical group for refusing to issue exemptions based on medical necessity.

A UPMC spokeswoman did not immediately comment.

The 80-page complaint, filed by Butler-based attorney Alexander Lindsay, lays out in detail the medical and mental health diagnoses of at least a dozen students.

In one instance, a 7-year-old girl who has been diagnosed with autism, cerebral palsy and other disorders which cause her difficulty communicating about pain and emotion, as well as excessive drooling, was denied an exemption from her specialist at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

The doctor’s staff told the girl’s mother: “‘We are not signing any exemptions. If you are concerned, please pull her out of school.’”

The woman also called the girl’s pediatrician at Children’s Community Pediatrics of Kittanning, a UPMC affiliate.

“The office staff relayed the message to (the woman) that no exemptions were being granted at Children’s Community Pediatrics,” the complaint said.

The complaint said a chiropractor in the area ultimately provided the girl a mask exemption, which Armstrong School District is now honoring.

Another case mentioned in the lawsuit involved a Leechburg Area School District student with diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and anxiety. The lawsuit said all of the disorders are triggered by wearing a mask.

The lawsuit said a guardian attempted to get an exemption from doctors at Children’s Hospital, but physicians there refused “for fear of being sued.”

On Sept. 8, the boy, who refused to wear a mask, asked to go to the bathroom and a member of the faculty escorted him there.

As they walked, the boy told the teacher, “‘This is retarded,’” resulting in him being suspended from school for refusing to wear a mask and being disrespectful, the complaint said.

The boy’s guardian continued to send him to school every day, but because he refused to wear a mask, he was sent home each time. The district offered for him to attend cyber school, but he declined, the complaint said.

Like other lawsuits that have been filed against Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam, including two argued on Wednesday in Commonwealth Court, this lawsuit argued that Beam did not have authority to issue the school mask mandate and that the health department failed to follow proper process to do so.

In addition, the complaint argued that the masking order usurps the powers given to school districts under the Public School Code, which are to be administered by individually elected or appointed school boards.

Messages sent to both the state Department of Health and Department of Education were not immediately returned.

The lawsuit said the health department only has authority over schools, businesses or households where there has been an outbreak of covid-19.

“There is no authority over non-infected people,” the lawsuit said. “This current order could theoretically last forever and covers hundreds of thousands of children who have not been exposed to the virus.”

The lawsuit includes claims under the federal Rehabilitation Act, which says that no one shall be excluded from participating in any activity receiving federal funding solely by reason of a disability.

It also asserts constitutional claims under the due process and equal protection clauses, alleging that the defendants are failing to provide children with disabilities an appropriate education.

The lawsuit seeks to stop the defendants from having blanket refusal policies for mask exemptions, and to void the masking order in its entirety “unless and until the departments issue guidance to school districts and medical providers ensuring that students with a good faith request for a school mask exemption are able to be evaluated for such exemptions in good faith.”