Incompetent Doctors in California Prisons.

Incompetent doctors, including some with a history of substance abuse or mental health problems, have been hired by California's prison system and have contributed to serious deficiencies in health care for inmates, according to a federal court report released Tuesday. At one facility, half of the eight doctors had a prior criminal charge, loss of privileges at community hospitals or mental health problems, the panel said. At another, seven of 20 doctors had similar problems. "There appears to be an emerging pattern of inadequate and seriously deficient physician quality" in prisons, a panel of experts said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who ordered the report as part of a civil rights suit alleging substandard medical care for inmates. A panel of two doctors and a nurse practitioner conducted reviews of medical treatment at about a half dozen of the state's 32 prisons. [more ]