Tennessee Inmates Sue for Hepatitis C Treatment
On July 25, 2016, inmates
incarcerated in Tennessee prisons filed a class action lawsuit against the
state’s Department of Corrections “asking the court to force the state to start treating all
inmates who have the potentially deadly disease [hepatitis C].”
The inmates are represented by several advocacy
organizations: American Civil Liberties Union, Disability Rights Tennessee, and
No Exceptions Prison Collective. The gist of the lawsuit centers on a claim
that failure to provide inmates with what now is believed to be standard of
care treatment for hepatitis C is “cruel and unusual punishment” and
unconstitutional.
The
prevalence of hepatitis C in Tennessee’s prison and adult general populations have
been estimated at 23% and 4.4%, respectively. Moreover, there are more
persons incarcerated in Tennessee than just the state’s prison system. One
Tennessee county jail recently reported that 92% of its detainees had hepatitis
C! Tennessee counties are
usually financially responsible for the health care costs of those jailed
within their jurisdictions.
From
news accounts that are reporting the story the principal issue clearly is money.
The medicine – which is an extremely effective cure – costs about $1000 per pill
to be taken daily for 12 weeks. The estimated cost per p...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Bioethics Today Tags: Health Care Drug Hepatitis C Inmate justice Medicaid syndicated Tennessee Source Type: blogs
More News: Blogging | Budgets | Disability | Health | Health Insurance | Health Management | Health Medicine & Bioethics Commentators | Hepatitis | Hepatitis C | Insurance | Lawsuits | Legislation | Medicaid | Medicare