Legal News

Calif. prisoners with Hepatitis C file lawsuit alleging crappy care

By Jason Siegel

California inmates with hepatitis C are filed federal lawsuit in Los Angeles yesterday that claims they aren't getting necessary medical care, the Associated Press reported (here).

The filing estimates as many as two in five state prisoners (about 74,000) have hepatitis C and that 30,000 inmates will report inadequate care, including exclusion from liver biopsies and antiviral treatments and letting their diseases progress, the Los Angeles Times reported (here).

Without treatment, one in four people with the disease will get liver cancer or suffer liver failure, according to the AP.

But the lawsuit is redundant, J. Clark Kelso told the Times, through a spokesperson. Kelso was appointed as a receiver to take control of and overhaul healthcare in the prison system after previous litigation that alleged shabby treatment for people with chronic diseases.

He's been asking the state to spend $7 billion for improved care and six new prison hospitals. But the plan was rejected by the state Senate, as well as the the governor, the Finance department, and the State Controller who told him the state had no obligation to pay and couldn't afford it anyway, Kelso told KPCC Public Radio last month (LISTEN).

Shawn Khorrami, one of the inmates' attorneys in the lawsuit filed yesterday, told the Times that the receiver hasn't made enough progress.

Tuesday's filing comes after collapsed settlement talks in a different lawsuit on whether overcrowding violates inmates' rights, resulting in poor services (LISTEN: KPCC report). A trial in that case is set for November and could lead to inmates' early release if the state loses.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on July 09, 2008 (boomark / email).