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Easton Morris Jr, is a Autistic young adult, who went into cardiac arrest at the age of 22 while waiting for three days in St. Joseph’s University Medical Center’s Emergency Room (ER) located in Paterson N.J. Easton is and has been receiving unlawful and discriminatory medical treatment throughout his entire stay in this hospital. His is being mishandled and continues to receive mistreatment from the Hospital’s Medical and Administrative staff because of his mental disability. Easton along with his parents have rights that are afforded to them legally (the same RIGHTS as any other person with disabilities) Easton and his parents Rights are being violated by the Hospital’s staff on a daily basis and it must stop now.

Easton was taken to St. Joseph’s hospital ER multiple times with the same complaints. Stomach pains and nonstop bloody stools. He was sent home each time without proper medical assessment. His mother explained to the physicians that Easton is Autistic. She also requested a social worker, a patient advocate and the hospital therapist on call to assist with getting Easton the medical treatment he needed. Easton sat teary eyed in pain for days and no one at the hospital helped him. Easton’s mother explained to the hospital physicians that this was extremely unusual for Easton, she told the doctors Easton never complains of pain, so something had to be wrong. She also told the physicians that Easton is high functioning autistic, he knows how to explain what is happening to him. Easton’s complaints never changed he kept saying “my stomach feels like a 20 on a scale of 1-10 pain.” Easton was overlooked, ignored and made to wait longer than others. No advocate, social worker, or therapist ever came to Easton’s aid. Shortly after Easton heart stopped.
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Easton’s parents decided it was best that Easton be transferred to another hospital immediately that would be able to pinpoint and properly diagnose Easton’s life threatening condition. They are still waiting on that transfer . St. Joseph’s noncooperation to transfer Easton leaves Easton’s family and the community with many unanswered questions. None of St. Joseph’s doctors knows why an otherwise healthy 22 year old’s heart would just stop. Especially since Easton was sitting in St. Joseph’s ER room for 3 days waiting to be taken to his ICU hospital room . The hospital has no answers for Easton’s parents. St. Joseph’s Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU)called Easton’s medical conditions a medical mystery and told his family they may never know what happened to Easton. That does not sit well with Easton’s parents.

The Community is devastated by the treatment that Easton is receiving by the physicians at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center. This hospital’s treatment of persons with disabilities is against the Law. We cannot allow anyone to treat other human beings as subhumans because of a disability. For days while Easton waited in the ER other patients with less severe conditions were treated as a priority. Easton asked when would it be his turn to go to his hospital room. Easton’s voice did not matter his pain did not matter nor did his cries for help. This hospital took Easton’s life away from him. No one should ever have to go through what Easton has been through. Easton was a fun loving extremely active young man who enjoyed talking about music computers and his anime’s. Now he lays helpless in a vegetated state from something that could have easily been detected and treated on any one of Easton’s visits to the hospital.

We have to make sure what happened to Easton never happens again. Easton is being held against the wishes of his parents for the past 8 months 3 weeks, while suffering at the hands of the hospitals surgical/ General surgery team. Negligence and neglect would be understatements. Abuse and torture is evident and documented, all administrators choose to turn the blind eye because an inner city Autistic person life doesn’t mean as much.
A transfer to another facility is what is best for Easton's life and he needs the support and assistance from the community. We demand that The New Jersey Department of Health and State Elected Officials intervene in this matter and assist Easton's family so he can receive the adequate medical care that he deserves.