During cross examination Dr. Jay Cowan, head of the Corizon subsidiary which provides physicians and nurses at the state's prison clinics, who testified at the hearing as a witness for the DOC, was asked what he would prescribe to a private patient who came to him with a case of Hep-C. "I would advise him to take the new medication," he said, "assuming he could pay for it."
That, in effect, is the state of Pennsylvania's position on treatment of the prison's Hepatitis-C epidemic: effective treatment that could effectively eliminate this destructive disease (which just killed singer Natalie Cole earlier this week), but Pennsylvania doesn't want to spend the estimated $100 million it might cost to treat infected inmates -- even though treating them for advanced cirrhosis and other complications certain to afflict many of them over time will end up costing the state and the taxpayer even more, not to mention all the unnecessary suffering caused to those affected. (Nor will the state allow outside family or supporters to provide for the treatment by offering to raise the funds to pay for it.)
Grote notes that this is not a position adopted by all states. Some, such as the state of Washington, are providing current advanced Hep-C medication to prisoners who have active infections, and in some European countries, prisoners are treated with the new medications even when they show inactive infection with the virus.
Grote says Judge Mariana advised at the conclusion of the three-day hearing that he was putting Abu-Jamal's injunction petition at the top of his list of cases to act on, which means a decision is likely next month. He says depending upon how the judge rules, it could have a major impact not just on Abu-Jamal's own treatment, but also on other prisoners in the system with Hepatitis-C. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, one of several restrictive laws passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton, federal judges are required in prisoner lawsuits over their conditions of confinement to keep their decisions as narrow as possible. But even so, clearly a finding that non-treatment of an active Hep-C infection violates the US Constitution's Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment, even if just issued at a district court level, would offer a strong argument for treatment in cases filed on behalf of other prisoners.
It would certainly provide strong support for the current class action case being brought in a court in Pittsburgh, as well as in other such class action cases being brought in other states.
DAVE LINDORFF is a member of ThisCantBeHappening!, the independent, uncompromised, five-time Project Censored Award-winning online alternative news site. His work, and that of colleagues JOHN GRANT, JESS GUH, GARY LINDORFF, ALFREDO LOPEZ, LINN WASHINGTON, JR. and the late CHARLES M. YOUNG, can be found at www.thiscantbehappening.net
(Article changed on January 2, 2016 at 14:07)
(Article changed on January 2, 2016 at 14:08)
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
