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By MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) – The penitentiary system in Pennsylvania is about to settle a lawsuit by agreeing to provide an expensive treatment regimen to a prescription drug for prisoners with chronic hepatitis C.
The correctional service and the lawyers of thousands of inmates have tabled this week a draft settlement of a four-year-old federal class action.
The agreement provides for the state to provide direct-acting antiviral drugs, giving priority to those with the most serious diseases. The ministry says the average cost of treatment per patient is about $ 20,000.
The agreement must be reviewed by the class members inmates, allowing them to oppose, before the presiding judge decides whether to approve it or not.
Attorney David Rudovsky, who represents the detainees, called the settlement agreement "a milestone in medical care in our state prisons" and predicted that it would help improve the situation. public health in the state.
Hepatitis C is a potentially fatal viral infection that attacks the liver, but direct-acting antiviral drugs cure most cases when they are administered.
As part of the settlement, officials hope all affected detainees will be treated by mid-2022.
Corrections spokeswoman Amy Worden said the ministry had already provided full-service treatment to direct-acting antiviral drugs to 650 inmates with the most severe stage of hepatitis C, and was currently providing the drugs. to more than 100 others in the next stage.
The Correctional Service also began a partnership with Temple University to provide hepatitis C offenders with access to university health professionals in prison and after their release.
The penitentiary system has $ 13.2 million for hepatitis C care during the current fiscal year.
Under the proposed agreement, the state will pay US $ 195,000 for plaintiffs' lawyers.
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