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Harsh Medicine: New York Times Exposes How Private Health
Care in Jails Can Be a "Death Sentence" for Prisoners
Once-Jailed Syrian Father and Son Warn U.S. Attack Would
Destroy "Not Only the Regime But the Country Itself"
Harsh Medicine: New York Times Exposes How Private
Health Care in Jails Can Be a "Death Sentence" for
Prisoners
We take an in-depth look at the for-profit health care in
prison and jails in this country. The New York Times published
a series titled "Harsh Medicine" based on a yearlong
investigation of Prison Health Services, the nation's largest
for-profit provider of prisoner medical care, that exposes
how inadequate care has resulted in death and suicides by
prisoners. [includes rush
transcript]
Today, we are going to take an in-depth look at for-profit
health care in prison and jails in this country. Prison Health
Services or PHS is the nation's largest for-profit provider
of inmate medical care - a 2 billion dollar a year industry.
They have 86 contracts in 28 states and care for 237,000 inmates
- which is one in every 10 people who are incarcerated.
Earlier this week, the New York Times published a series,
titled "Harsh Medicine." The articles, based on
a yearlong investigation of PHS, expose how the company provided
medical care that was widely inadequate in some cases - and
deadly in others. The articles detail a range of problems
with PHS" medical services - some of which resulted in
death or suicides by inmates. The list of problems include:
skeletal medical staffs, under qualified doctors and nurses,
doctors who were practicing without proper certification,
prescription drugs being withheld from patients, and employee
misconduct that went unpunished.
PHS began receiving contracts in New York State over the
last decade despite a tarnished record of providing care in
Florida and Pennsylvania. Since then, the State Commission
of Corrections has faulted the company in 23 inmate deaths
and has recommended disciplinary action of PHS doctors and
nurses, 15 times in the past four years. The New York Times
notes that in one report, the chairman of the commission's
medical review board - Frederick C. Lamy - labeled the company,
"reckless and unprincipled in its corporate pursuits,
irrespective of patient care." Despite this, New York
City renewed PHS' contract in January of this year.
PHS declined to make someone available for our program but
they sent us a statement which reads in part - "since
the story appeared, PHS has received calls from clients around
the country and every one has been supportive and expressed
their disagreement with the Times coverage."
- Paul von Zeilbauer, reporter for the New York Times.
Wrote series Harsh medicine about the severe deficiencies
of Prison Health Services. PHS is a private company that
provides health care to prisons and jails all over the country.
- Dr. Bobby Cohen, federal court appointed doctor who monitors
health care in prisons and jails in Michigan, Ohio, Connecticut
and New York.
- Barbara Ferguson, sister of Brian Tetrault . Inmate with
Parkinson's disease who, she alleges, was denied proper
medical care and died behind bars. PHS was the health care
provider in the jail that Brian was locked up in.
Once-Jailed Syrian Father and Son Warn U.S. Attack
Would Destroy "Not Only the Regime But the Country Itself"
We continue our coverage of Syria with two Syrians who were
once jailed in Damascus: a father and son. Leading human rights
lawyer, Haythem al-Maleh, joins us from Syria and his son
Iyas joins us from Dallas. [includes rush
transcript]
We continue our coverage of Syria with two guests that represent
a perspective rarely heard in the corporate media: and that
is Syrians talking about Syria.
Over the past few months, Washington's rhetoric towards Damascus
has grown increasingly hostile. Syria has been accused of
assassinating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,
a charge they deny. The ensuing mass demonstrations led the
pro-Syrian Lebanese government to resign last month. In the
wake of the bombing, the White House has been increasing pressure
on Syria to withdraw its 15,000 troops from Lebanon.
- President Bush, March 3, 2005.
Several countries have now joined the call for Syria's withdrawal.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw warned Syria risks being
"treated as a pariah" if it fails to pull out its
forces. His comments come a day after Saudi Arabian officials
said Syria risks damaging relations between their countries.
And Ha'aretz is reporting that Lebanese opposition members
have now asked Israel to encourage the US to put more pressure
on Syria into withdrawing troops.
Reuters is now reporting that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
is expected to announce on Saturday the withdrawal of some
troops and the redeployment of the rest close to the Syrian-Lebanese
border.
- Haythem al-Maleh, one of the leading human rights lawyers
in Syria. He is on the line from Damascus.
- Iyas Maleh, a Syrian human rights activist based in Dallas,
Texas.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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