SW News: In the United States, a new coalition of medical ethics groups is calling for greater protection of the rights and the religious freedom of hospitalized patients and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health Care Civil Rights Task Force says that both the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence ensure that visiting loved ones in hospital or other health care settings is an unalienable right. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the group says that this right can be readily upheld by allowing family and close friends to make hospital visits using Personal Protective Equipment or PPE. Such visits, they say, also ensure that vulnerable patients are not deprived of essential advocacy on their behalf. The Task Force also called on authorities to preserve the right of clergy to administer spiritual care to patients. The Health Care Civil Rights Task Force is a new coalition of various organizations including, The Christ Medicus Foundation, The National Catholic Bioethics Center, the Life Legal Defense Foundation, and The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network.