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: Tags: Health Care Drug Hepatitis C Inmate justice Medicaid syndicated Tennessee Source Type: blogs