Chicago Tribune - February 3, 2002
Karen Brandon, Tribune national correspondent

Two related facts--that the patient is serving a 14-year sentence for burglary and robbery, and that his surgery and follow-up care will cost taxpayers more than $1 million--thrust the case onto the front pages of newspapers in California and into the forefront of a public policy and ethical debate.

In many respects, the case is a harbinger of a situation that is likely to confront the nation, which now imprisons a record 1.4 million people, some of them old and sick. Inmates are sicker than the general population, with a higher prevalence of diabetes, hepatitis, heart disease, HIV and AIDS. Many enter prison addicted to drugs.

Nationally, the number of prisoners 50 and older has more than tripled in the past decade, reaching 103,200 people in 2000, according to the Corrections Yearbook.

Across the nation, advocates for inmates said the transplant case is an aberration because they are fighting to get basic medical attention to inmates.

For instance, a year ago nine women in the California Women's Facility died in an eight-week period under circumstances that prompted accusations of medical neglect. The deaths led to passage of reform-minded bills that ultimately were vetoed by the governor, said Cynthia Chandler, co-director of Justice Now, an Oakland group that provides legal services to women prisoners.

Less than a month after the Stanford heart transplant, the state announced a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit that alleged that California had failed to provide adequate medical care in its prisons.

Mary Kelly's son, James, died after prison medical staff waited three months before treating him for an aggressive form of tongue cancer.

The settlement dictates changes that will cost the state an additional $122 million a year when they are fully implemented, officials said. Some observers contend that still is cheaper than embarking on what was sure to be a lengthy court battle. The state's annual budget for medical care has grown from $282 million five years ago to $663 million for this fiscal year, Heimerich said.

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "deliberate indifference" to a prisoner's health problems constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

Edward Harrison, president of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, a Chicago-based organization that sets standards for health services in the nation's jails and prisons, said that in 1998 health-care spending for an inmate averaged $2,700, compared with $4,094 for an average American.

"That's not much," he said.

Most of the inmates will be released back into the general population, he said, adding that "the risk to the public health is greater if they have not received adequate treatment in prison."

020203
CT020201

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2002. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2002. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .