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 ]
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