Inch isn’t refusing or denying medical care to any inmates who test positive for hepatitis C, Newsom noted. As explained below, it is not,” he added. “Rather, because the plaintiffs here have invoked the Eighth Amendment, the sole question before us is whether the secretary’s approach to the treatment of F0- and F1-level inmates is so reckless - so conscience-shocking - that it violates the Constitution. The question in the Florida case isn’t whether all inmates with hepatitis C should receive treatment with direct acting anti-virals, Newsom wrote. Rather, the court has found medical care to be unconstitutional “only when it is so grossly incompetent, inadequate, or excessive as to shock the conscience or to be intolerable to fundamental fairness,” he wrote, again quoting from a 1991 ruling in a case known as Harris v. Newsom noted that previous court decisions regarding prisoners’ medical care “have held that the Eighth Amendment doesn’t require it to be ‘perfect, the best obtainable, or even very good.’” Lawyers representing inmates asked the court to order the treatment for all prisoners with hepatitis C, regardless of the pace of the disease progression or underlying comorbidities.ĭuring a 2017 hearing in the case, expert doctors for the state and the plaintiffs reached “dueling conclusions regarding the necessity of treating HCV-positive inmates who showed little or no liver scarring,” Newsom noted in Monday’s majority decision, which was joined by Judge Bobby Baldock.īut Newsom and Baldock found that the plaintiffs failed to show that Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch’s response to inmates’ medical needs was “deliberately indifferent.”
The treatment can cost up to $25,000 to $37,000 per inmate, according to court documents. The state does not want to use the expensive anti-viral treatment on inmates who are in the early stages of the disease, classified as “F0” or “F1.” At least half the cases are chronic and can only be treated with medication, however. In Monday’s majority opinion, Judge Kevin Newsom noted that many people infected with hepatitis C will “spontaneously clear” the virus without treatment. Ron DeSantis vetoed the money in June as he looked for ways to cut the state budget as the coronavirus reduced state tax revenues. In a budget passed in March, state lawmakers set aside $28 million in reserves to pay for the treatment if needed. But the corrections department contends that it would not violate prisoners’ constitutional rights if they did not receive the high-cost medication in the early stages. The state does not dispute that direct acting anti-virals should be given to inmates with later stages of hepatitis C. In a 2-1 ruling Monday, a panel overturned Walker’s decision, saying the state is not required to offer the expensive treatment to prisoners in the early stages of the disease. District Judge Mark Walker last year ordered the Florida Department of Corrections to provide the treatment to all inmates with hepatitis C, but the agency appealed to the 11th U.S. The class-action lawsuit centers on the use of an expensive type of medication known as “direct acting anti-virals” to treat the contagious liver disease, which can be fatal. A split federal appeals court sided with the Florida Department of Corrections on Monday in a drawn-out legal battle over whether the state is providing proper treatment to prisoners with hepatitis C.
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