An article in the New York Times today issues a scathing indictment of private health care hired by prison officials in New York, Georgia, Maine, Pennsylvania and numerous other states. The horror stories led Frederick C. Lamy, chairman of a NY medical review board, to denounce Prison Health Services (P.H.S. as it widely known), as “reckless and unprincipled in its corporate pursuits, irrespective of patient care.”
And despite such horror stories, this current administration wants to take aim at malpractice laws and lawyers, undercutting the ability of those victimized to recover compensation, and doing nothing to reduce medical errors. In fact, I suspect that this administration would be quite happy to deny any form of health care to prisoners at all, viewing it as a privilege rather than as a basic human right. Geez, and I thought the “compassionate conservatives” were supposed to protect the vulnerable populations…
— Linda Glenn