Alright public, here's a topic for discussion...
For my grad class I have to pick a PA bill from last years session or the current one and research it and do some interviews with some of the congress men or women who introduced the bill. I choose a bill from the Senate, #1072 if you are interested, that would allow inmates over the age of 50 to be able to be released from prison for hospice services if they are in need of them.
My topic was just approved last week and I am trying to get a hold of two of the senators to interview. I am also going to interview the medical director of the hospice that I am now working for and the executive director as they have had some involvement with the issue.
What are your thoughts on this PUBLIC? CRY it out and let me know what you think?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Most prison hospice programs I know of are run from within the prison by the medical director there and volunteers drawn from the inmate population. A great example of this is the Angola prison in Louisiana, where everyone there is there for life. So it kind of makes sense that hospice and the hospice philosophy would be a good fit. I am not aware of any prison hospice connections that allow for medical leave without getting explicit consent from the law/courts.
I am a medical director of a hospice and also write a blog about Hospice & palliative Medicine, and since you are getting back into hospice (what discipline?) you may find some interesting subjects there, although we have not posted much (if anything on prisons).
Also, I saw in your comment section For your video)that you play Settlers. Great game. There are many 'new' board games that are just as fun. Settlers was my first 'gateway' game into a whole new world. Check out BoardGameGeek for other great games.
Good luck on your paper.
Dr. Sinclair,
My friends are playing Settlers right now as I read your comments. I decided to sit this one out! Thanks for the connection to the other board game possibilities.
Thanks also for your information on hospice programs. I am very unfamiliar with hospice programs and inmates, so it will be interesting to research and learn more about it.
I am going to be a social worker, graduating from my masters program in August. I look forward to hopefully getting a job in the field right away, but know that may be something I have to work my way towards for awhile.
Thanks for you interest in my blog!
In Ohio, there is a Prison Hospital, CMC, located in Columbus where many of the prisoners in the state system go for any long term care. They have a hospice wing there and it is actually quite nice. I have visited there. The prisoners are treated very well, but they are still in prison. The web-site is http://www.drc.state.oh.us/Public/cmc.htm
That link will take you to a site that will give you some info. on the prison. I think that this is a much safer and more realistic approach to caring for inmates that have terminal illnesses or are simply dying from old age. The hospital offers a vast array of services that allow its inmates to help the community as well. One of these is a program that allows inmates to train seeing eye and other dogs that assist the blind and people with other dissabilities. This is an approach that I support more readily than one which releases the prisoner from prison. Another factor that helps make the prison functional is its proximity to OSU's medical school. I seem to remember that a great deal of the care received by the prisoners is from med students and/or interns from the program.
There was one guy when I was there who stared at us from behind a glass wall, in his hospital gown, like we were meat for his dinner. I will never forget the look on this guy's face. I asked our guide why he was in the hospital and he said he was getting dialysis, then he said rather nonchalantly that he was a death row inmate. Another guy was attempting to type what I assumed was an appeal letter or a letter home, he found it rather difficult to do so, as he had to type with a pencil stuck between his teeth because bacterial menangitis had claimed his hands and feet.
One of the functions of prison is to allow the families of victims to have a sense of reckoning for the inmate's crimes. For example, a family finds some peace of mind in knowing that the individual that killed their loved one will be serving their time in prison. I think that this is a very powerful psycholigical tool that many victims and/or their families have to use in order to go on with their lives.
I do not support a program that opens up prison space (which I think this program intends to do essentially) by putting convicts into a hospice. A state run prison hospital would be a better answer, in my opinion.
wow rach -
you got me sitting here questioning my ethics, morals, feelings and all kinda crazy stuff - no wonder i never get any work done. i feel a bit like tim2 in that i'm not well versed in the matter - say like mom elek, who obviously has done her homework. i guess if i had to say, i think i would be against allowing a person out of prison to recieve hospice services. after all, they are in there for a reason. if they could recieve hospice within the prison, now that... i wouldn't necessarily disagree with. look forward to seeing what else you find!
Now that I have looked into it a little more, because I was not really educated on the topic either.
All that to say, I believe that inmates would be moved to a correctional hospital with a hospice wing, which thanks to Jim, there is one in Columbus, OH that he has visited. I would be more comfortable with that scenario.
I am interviewing one of the senators this week who was one of the original senators to try to pass the bill. I'm excited! I think I'll be intimidated, but it will be a good experience. Thanks for everyone's input and interest!
I agree with Timmy 2, very interesting dialogue and I don't know much about this topic. I wish you the best in your research..
Oh! One more thing...good luck with the interview. I know you will do just fine. Just be yourself...you always ask great questions!!!
That prison hospital, CMC, isn't really there thanks to me. It's not like I started the program or anything. I just visited there and thought that I might be able to add some insight into your blog. I guess I was wrong and now I am emberassed that I tried to be eduacted on atleast one topic in my life. I guess from now on I know where I stand in this family; in line just behind Gizmo when people are asking for input. Thanks a lot. My blogging life must now come to a sudden, horrific death as I believe I am too horribly emberassed to further expose myself to the sharp teeth of Rachel's sarcasm.
Oh, I should add that I wasn't serious in that last comment. Some people might not yet know that I cannot be taken seriously on most occasions, this being one of them. But seriously, thanks a lot for the harsh comments Rachel.
You spelled embarrassed wrong.
Thanks for doubting me mom. Now I am pissed off at you as well. If you didn't already know, I am almost never serious all of the time, but sometimes I am sort of serious some of the time. Other times I am serious for a little bit, then not serious for a little bit, I tend to do this over and over again for a little while until I get bored. Then there are times when I go weeks being serious without any variation in my routine at all. But seriously, are you serious? I wish my family would atleast take me seriously. That is what families, and especially moms are supposed to do. I am thoroughly hurt and seriously not being serious. Thanks a lot!!!
As long as Lynn Swann isn't the governor (despite his ex-Steeler status) and Rick Santorum is out as Senator, I'm happy with ANY law passed in the fair commonwealth of PA!
But seriously, this issue is heavy, Rach. Way to pick a complex topic! Without knowing all the particulars on this, I'll have to say I'd be AGAINST the bill. BUT, as many other commentators have pointed out, there are many as-yet-unanswered questions in my mind (such as "what are their present alternatives?" etc).
So I guess my answer is this: I'd need to hear more from an expert (like you, or soon-to-be you anyway) about the bill before I could give an educated answer. So PLEASE send me a copy of your paper when it's done. (that way I won't have to actually do any research myself! WOO-HOO!)
Kudos to you for attacking the matter!
--Dave (your brother)
Post a Comment