Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jul 2005
Source: Journal News, The (NY)
Copyright: 2005 The Gannett Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nyjournalnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1205
Author: Bill Hughes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis)

PANEL UPHOLDS PRISONER'S MEDICAL APPEAL

Prison officials' denial of medical treatment for a Sing Sing inmate 
suffering from hepatitis C amounted to a "cruel and unusual 
punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment," a panel of state 
judges concluded in a ruling issued last week.

Four judges of the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division 
unanimously upheld a May 2003 order by a judge in Westchester County 
directing prison officials to provide medication for Angel Domenech, 
53, a Bronx man whose condition was diagnosed as hepatitis C after a 
liver biopsy in February 2002.

Domenech has been in prison since 1999, serving a 16-year maximum 
sentence for attempted murder. He told prison officials when he was 
being processed in 1999 that he only used alcohol and sniffed heroin 
"when (he) was very young," according to court records.

Alexander Reinert, a lawyer representing Domenech, said his client 
was told by prison officials that to receive treatment for his 
hepatitis he would have to participate in an intensive six-month 
drug-treatment program.

Domenech enrolled but dropped out after two weeks because, he said, 
he hadn't used drugs for 30 years, the program included no useful 
information about his medical condition and it disrupted his 
educational classes and work schedule.

"Since he had been in prison at that point for more than two years, 
where he presumably wouldn't have had access to drugs or alcohol, he 
didn't see why the state should make this requirement of him in order 
to get medical treatment," said Reinert, whose law firm took the case pro bono.

While there is no vaccine against hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus 
transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids, a combination of 
the medications interferon and ribavirin can eradicate the virus in 
up to 80 percent of people infected with certain strains.

Domenech filed an inmate grievance in May 2002 after he was denied 
the medications and filed a lawsuit on his own behalf after his 
grievance was denied. State Supreme Court Justice Mary Smith ruled in 
Domenech's favor more than two years ago, but prison officials have 
refused to provide the medication while Smith's ruling was appealed.

"In a sense, this is just a way of playing chicken with Mr. 
Domenech's medical condition," Reinert said. "It's our view that this 
policy represents a way for the state to routinely release prisoners 
without having to pay for this treatment, which is very expensive."

James Flateau, a spokesman for the state Department of Correctional 
Services, declined to comment on Domenech's case while the department 
was reviewing whether it would appeal the latest ruling to the Court 
of Appeals, the state's highest court.

According to court documents, lawyers for the department argued that 
the state court "should not interfere with the Department of 
Corrections' regulations and that their denial of medical treatment 
is in full compliance with the law."

Citing Domenech's admitted prior use of drugs and alcohol and his 
refusal to stay in the drug treatment program, correction officials 
insisted they were justified in refusing to provide the medication, 
despite a doctor having written him a prescription for interferon in 
September 2002.

In her ruling, Smith wrote that while there were limitations to 
treatments available for hepatitis C, "this Court finds no treatment 
at all to be repugnant to our standards of decency," and that 
"failure to provide him with the necessary medical care has subjected 
him to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth