In fact, such a program already exists... in U.S. prisons. One of the rants has been certain prisoners using such services for sex changes - quite an expensive procedure. However, all is not so rosy. William Anderson has an interesting piece on prison health care in Maryland.
"Bill," he said, "If you are in prison, you had better stay healthy." Prison medical care, he said, is deplorable at best, and he cited an example of one inmate who had broken his leg, but prison officials there refused to take him to a local emergency room for two weeks. By that time, the bones had set, so doctors had to break the bones again in order to permit a proper resetting.Of course, this has to do with the prison officials, why they delayed this may be a whole different issue. And, it may vary from locality to locality. In a single payer system, how would doctor's visits be regulated? I suppose there could be a co-pay to keep things in check. Posted by torque at October 2, 2004 8:27 AM | TrackBack
my uncle is a prison doc in stockton. it probably is deplorable in some parts, but a physician is a physician and has a professional responsibility apart from the employer's whims. Maybe i'm too optimistic, but i'd expect that professionalism and code of honor to carry into an environment where the gov't is the boss of all docs.
Docs don't go into this for the money (at least most). There are plenty of other things that are more important: the ability to effect change (in one person), the appreciation of having affected that change, working with others that want to care for people, feeling like you're doing right... these professional ethics would hopefully counteract such awful prison conditions
Posted by: enoch choi at October 2, 2004 10:48 AMI think that as a nurse providing care in the correctional setting, the primary issue is providing medically necessary care with dignity and respect. Most of us do just that!
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