Correctional Healthcare

Written by: Beth Boone, Esq. Administrators, officers and health care providers who work in correctional facility settings should make sure they aren’t giving plaintiffs’ attorneys a commonly exploited opening for litigation: protocol lapses. Whether it’s not following existing protocols or failing to update them regularly, a lax approach to protocols in a correctional health care

Written by: Beth Boone, Esq. Getting appointments with a health care provider can be challenging for anyone, and it can be much more complicated for individuals who are in custody — especially when the matter requires a specialist or diagnostic procedure performed with specialized equipment. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care, the National Institute of Corrections,

Written by: Beth Boone, Esq. Death by suicide behind bars is a serious challenge in correctional health care, and there is a greater focus on expanding mental health services and prevention programs to reduce fatalities. Corrections officers, facility administrators, community health care agencies and other stakeholders also play important roles in watching for suicide risk,

Written by: Beth Boone, Esq. As COVID vaccines become more widely available and distributed across the United States, state and local corrections facilities are receiving vaccines according to their jurisdiction’s vaccine plan. Sometimes that means varying prioritization based on facility size, geography, local logistics and the number of available medical staff. The U.S. Centers for

Brunswick Partner Beth Boone has been published in the Winter 2020 edition of CorrDocs, the newsletter of the American College of Correctional Physicians. Her article is titled “Defending Deliberate Indifference Claims” and can be read here.

Written by: Beth Boone, Esq. There are differences in how a patient’s care and treatment is documented in the wide variety of settings in which health care providers practice. For example, a private practice neurology office may document with references to applicable insurance and billing codes, and use language that will allow an insurance carrier

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. Thus is the title of Adam Liptak’s New York Times coverage of the Ohio inmate transfer case, Williams v Wilson case we reported on last week. The piece begins: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused a request from the Trump administration to block a trial judge’s ruling that had ordered

Written by: Phillip E. Friduss, Esq. There have now been any number of COVID-related challenges to the conditions of confinement in jails/prisons nationwide, especially with respect to the elderly inmate population.  Two weeks ago we reported on the Texas case that had made its way to the US Supreme Court.  That case, Valentine v Collier,

Written by: Stephanie R. Amiotte, Esq. COVID-19 is a pandemic nobody was prepared for and nobody wanted to happen. Its effects on the incarcerated population, particularly those with fragile health or advanced age will likely result in increased litigation against correctional healthcare providers.  Hall Booth Smith, P.C. is dedicated to meeting the pandemic head-on in

Written by: Jennifer Dorminey Herzog, Esq. Because of policies of mass incarceration over the past four decades, the United States has incarcerated more people than any other country on Earth.[1]  Highly transmissible novel respiratory pathogens pose a challenge for incarcerated populations because of the ease with which they spread in congregate settings.[2]  The stage is