
Doctor Filling Syringe in Prison
(11-15-19) Earlier this month, I posted a blog entitled: Advocate Creates Medical Form & Handbook Telling You What To Do If Someone You Love Is Arrested. It offered readers a sample form that could be used to inform jail officials about the medical needs of someone who has been arrested. Mark Gale, who created the form, also prepared a handbook that described what needed to be done in the Los Angeles area if someone was jailed.
Dear Pete,
I want to follow up on your blog. I agree with several readers who commented on your Facebook page that there are far too many jails across our nation that either do not deliver medications and treatment, or simply ignore their constitutional obligation to provide at least a minimal adequate level of health care to all who are detained.
Their cynicism and frustrations are well-founded, but they don’t solve the problem.
My message to them is “Get Involved! Organize!”
The Inmate Medication Information Form is not just a well-intentioned informational form to assist clinicians with continuity of care, it is a well-defined simple advocacy tool that can be used to begin a dialogue with the Sheriffs and Custody Commanders who run your local jail. You are being handed a reason to call for a meeting. Don’t pass up the opportunity.