TY - JOUR
T1 - Prisoners as patients
T2 - The opioid epidemic, medication-assisted treatment, and the eighth amendment
AU - Linden, Michael
AU - Marullo, Sam
AU - Bone, Curtis
AU - Barry, Declan T.
AU - Bell, Kristen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - In 2016, an estimated 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses, 28 percent more than the year prior. This epidemic is particularly acute in American prisons and jails, where more than half the population meets the criteria for drug abuse or dependence. Drug use in correctional institutions leads to a series of negative consequences during and after incarceration — not only deadly overdoses, but also the transmission of dangerous diseases like hepatitis C and HIV through injection drug use, and other long-term health consequences like pulmonary and heart infections. Yet in the face of such great need, only a small percentage of incarcerated people with opioid addictions have access to what leading medical organizations take to be the standard of care: medication-assisted treatment (MAT). This article argues that correctional institutions violate the Eighth Amendment when they refuse to establish MAT programs and prevent doctors from exercising medical judgment to properly treat incarcerated people with OUD.
AB - In 2016, an estimated 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses, 28 percent more than the year prior. This epidemic is particularly acute in American prisons and jails, where more than half the population meets the criteria for drug abuse or dependence. Drug use in correctional institutions leads to a series of negative consequences during and after incarceration — not only deadly overdoses, but also the transmission of dangerous diseases like hepatitis C and HIV through injection drug use, and other long-term health consequences like pulmonary and heart infections. Yet in the face of such great need, only a small percentage of incarcerated people with opioid addictions have access to what leading medical organizations take to be the standard of care: medication-assisted treatment (MAT). This article argues that correctional institutions violate the Eighth Amendment when they refuse to establish MAT programs and prevent doctors from exercising medical judgment to properly treat incarcerated people with OUD.
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U2 - 10.1177/1073110518782926
DO - 10.1177/1073110518782926
M3 - Article
C2 - 30146987
AN - SCOPUS:85055932708
VL - 46
SP - 252
EP - 267
JO - Nursing law & ethics,
JF - Nursing law & ethics,
SN - 1073-1105
IS - 2
ER -