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Current Problems and Solutions
Know What's HappeningSince the Reagan administration, states have closed homes for the mentally ill, saying churches and private groups would step up and care for the mentally ill. Well, we know now, for a fact, that they haven't stepped up. Indeed, looks like they are retreating into their sanctified churches and safe homes. They leave the mentally ill to the criminal justice system instead. How can a society allow the mentally ill to get arrested (for epilepsy, Tourette's Syndrome, anger issues, etc.) and placed in prisons, where they face criminals and people who harm rather than help them?
Read the full article...April 10, 2014I don't know about you, but if the medics who oversaw my medical visits--14 times within one month--didn't realize my very flesh was being eaten, I'd change doctors. Then again, I'm in the Free World and can. Inmates can't. That's why this Washington case is so, so sad: after months of pain and a string of medical visits, Ricardo Mejia was taken to a free-world hospital, where he died an unnecessary death . The lawsuit said, “While in state custody, Ricardo Mejia’s medical providers ignored obvious signs of infection and serious illness and he literally rotted to death under their care through negligence and deliberate indifference.” Even that negligence didn't allow the court to find any one person actually guilty of neglect. What does it take?
Read the full article...April 5, 2014When you are in prison in a wheelchair, you don't have many options. Certainly you can't pick your doctor or health care system. But things got out of hand for Texas inmate Donald Eubanks. He asked and asked for help; filled out grievances; was turned down and way repeatedly, with minimal care. So finally he's filed suit--because he lost his legs and a testicle, for instance, and part of a colon, etc. Thank goodness a judge agreed to allow a jury to review the facts. Generally, the "deliberate indifference" standard is so high that no facts can reach it. Indeed, plenty of personnel in this story were already relieved of any liability. But one doctor-Dr. Kokila D. Naik-- will face trial over this disaster
Read the full article...April 3, 2014The Ninth Circuit looked at the inmate's facts (lost teeth and pain when no dentist helped) and concluded that the inmate cannot sue the employees when the state itself is responsible for funding the dental office. "Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said in the majority opinion. He noted that prisoners seeking damages must prove, under federal law, that government employees intentionally violated their rights or were "deliberately indifferent" to their needs." So what's an inmate to do when denied basic health and dental care? He had already sued the state and lost because the state didn't have adequate resources to pay a reward. Talk about Catch-22 for Inmates!
Read the full article...March 23, 2014
