|
Northhampton County Prison, Easton,
Pennsylvania
January 2, 2006 The Morning Call
Because of a lack of medical treatment, Trent Apple claims his multiple
sclerosis deteriorated so much he had trouble walking. Yahteek Miles
says his broken wrists went untreated for nearly two months, causing
permanent problems with his hands. And the family of Donald Weiss Jr.
alleges he killed himself after mental health experts failed to provide
adequate psychiatric care. Each of these individuals served time at a
county prison where a private business provided medical services. And
each of them has had a federal civil rights lawsuit filed on his behalf,
alleging the business failed to provide sufficient medical care in an
effort to save money. Across the nation, prison health care companies
have come under increased scrutiny, with prison watchdogs questioning
whether the profit motive has harmed the quality of prison health care.
Prisons that have hired private medical companies generally have done so
because of the promised financial savings for taxpayers. ''If they're
doing it cheaper, it's usually because they're cutting something, and
those cuts have consequences for the quality of care,'' said David Fathi,
an attorney with the National Prison Project of the American Civil
Liberties Union. Locally, PrimeCare Medical Inc., based in Harrisburg,
provides services at four prisons - in Lehigh, Northampton, Berks and
Monroe counties. Schuylkill County is considering hiring it. Inmates
have filed dozens of suits against PrimeCare, which serves 22 county
prisons in Pennsylvania. In Northampton County, at least 16 suits have
been filed against the company since it started providing services there
in 1999, the most against any local prison served by PrimeCare.
Traditionally a litigious group, inmates often file handwritten suits on
a variety of issues that end up being dismissed as frivolous. But in
Northampton County, many of the suits against PrimeCare involve
prisoners with private attorneys. And many of their cases have been
given court approval to move forward. One of the more significant
Northampton County cases involved a seriously ill inmate who reached a
$150,000 settlement in 2003 with the county and PrimeCare. It alleged
that PrimeCare failed to fill prescriptions and gave incorrect
prescriptions and that the prison delayed access to medical care.
PrimeCare has been an improvement over Wexford Health Sources Inc.,
which provided medical care at the Lehigh County Prison until 2004,
Sweeney said. PrimeCare is better partly because it's more oriented
toward county jails than Wexford, he said. Inmates have shorter stays in
county jails than those in state prisons, so their medical needs are
different. But the owner and president of PrimeCare, Carl A. Hoffman
Jr., has a questionable medical record. In 1997, the Pennsylvania Board
of Osteopathic Medicine disciplined him. It issued a formal reprimand
and fined him $500. At the time, Hoffman owned Pennsylvania
Institutional Health Services, the predecessor to PrimeCare, which was
contracted to provide medical care at five state prisons.
September
7, 2005 The Express-Times
Three Northampton County Prison inmates have contracted
antibiotic-resistant staph infections, and three others may have the
disease, according to the prison's health care provider. All infected
prisoners and those who may have the disease were segregated from the
general prison population, and every prisoner was inspected to rule out
additional cases, PrimeCare Medical spokesman Todd Haskins said Tuesday.
PrimeCare of Harrisburg has the contract to provide medical care to the
prison's 600 inmates. Haskins said the prisoners have methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a skin disease that results in
slow-to-heal boils or sores. The bacteria can lead to serious wound
infections, blood infections and pneumonia, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PrimeCare adopted an MRSA
prevention and treatment policy in June and put information about the
disease in the pay envelopes of the prison employees. They received the
information shortly before the disease was detected this week, Haskins
said.
|
