Why It Is Important to Promote Clinical Independence Among Health Professionals Working in Prisons, Jails, and Other Detention Settings

摘要

When states deprive people of liberty, certain obligations arise, including providing health care. In fact, standards unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2015the Mandela Rules- assert that "'Prisoners should enjoy the same standards of health care that are available in the conmmunity... What courts and international guidance documents have not been able to do is explain in much detail what quality of medical care is required. The bar set by the US Supreme Court-deliberate indifference to a prisoners serious medical needs-is notoriously low, opaque, and subject to variable interpretations. But even the relatively high and more specific bar set by the United Nations in the Mandela Rules, requiring that prisoners be treated according to the standard of care provided in the community, begs the question of which community is being referenced. In the United States, there are many communities that receive extremely poor- quality medical care, if they can get care at all.