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Results for “Eighth Amendment”

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1983

City of Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital: government responsibility for an arrestee's medical care.

City of Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital presented the United States Supreme Court with its first opportunity to consider whether a state or municipality has a constitutional duty to pay for medical treatment received by an individual in police custody. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts had held that the city had an eighth amendment duty to pay for an arrestee's treatment. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed, observing that eighth amendment rights and duties are not implicated prior to conviction and that fourteenth amendment due process concerns were met once the arrestee received adequate medical care. No obligation to pay arises, the Court held, absent a specific state law provision requiring such payment. Because arrestees are subject to physical restraints similar to those imposed on convicted prisoners, this Case Comment argues that courts undertaking to determine the scope of a state's duty to provide treatment to arrestees should apply a due process standard which draws upon eighth amendment analysis. The Comment concludes that under such an eighth amendment equivalence approach, no duty to pay arises because the state's failure to pay the health care provider does not reflect "deliberate indifference" towards the recipient of the treatment.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2002

Raising the "civilized minimum" of pain amelioration for prisoners to avoid cruel and unusual punishment.

This Article addresses the problems with our nation's cultural and legal prohibitions against certain pain management treatments. The practice of pain management has not kept pace with the many medical advances that have made it possible for physicians to ameliorate most pain. The Author notes that some patients are denied access to certain forms of treatments due to the mistaken belief that addiction may ensue. Additionally, some individuals are under-treated for their pain to a greater degree than are others. This is especially the case for our nation's prisoners. The Author contends that prisoners are frequently denied effective pain amelioration. He notes, however, that there has been improvement in medical treatment in general for prisoners due to court challenges based on the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Yet, due to the protection of qualified immunity given to jailers and prison health care providers, prisoners cannot bring a claim for negligence or medical malpractice, they must allege a violation of their constitutional rights, a significantly higher legal standard. Prisoners must meet a subjective test showing that there was a deliberate indifference to their medical needs that violates the protection of the Eighth Amendment. The Author concludes that because medical advances have made it possible to alleviate most pain suffering, withholding pain treatment or providing a less effective treatment is tantamount to inflicting pain and should be viewed as a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Civil Rights↗
PubMed2002

Raising the "civilized minimum" of pain amelioration for prisoners to avoid cruel and unusual punishment.

This Article addresses the problems with our nation's cultural and legal prohibitions against certain pain management treatments. The practice of pain management has not kept pace with the many medical advances that have made it possible for physicians to ameliorate most pain. The Author notes that some patients are denied access to certain forms of treatments due to the mistaken belief that addiction may ensue. Additionally, some individuals are under-treated for their pain to a greater degree than are others. This is especially the case for our nation's prisoners. The Author contends that prisoners are frequently denied effective pain amelioration. He notes, however, that there has been improvement in medical treatment in general for prisoners due to court challenges based on the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Yet, due to the protection of qualified immunity given to jailers and prison health care providers, prisoners cannot bring a claim for negligence or medical malpractice, they must allege a violation of their constitutional rights, a significantly higher legal standard. Prisoners must meet a subjective test showing that there was a deliberate indifference to their medical needs that violates the protection of the Eighth Amendment. The Author concludes that because medical advances have made it possible to alleviate most pain suffering, withholding pain treatment or providing a less effective treatment is tantamount to inflicting pain and should be viewed as a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Psychiatry and the death penalty: the landmark Supreme Court cases and their ethical implications for the profession.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made a number of recent rulings in regard to the death penalty that will likely have the effect of increasing the use of psychiatry during the trial and sentencing process in capital cases. Any such changes are bound to increase the number of ethical dilemmas faced by psychiatrists involved in such work. The rulings affecting psychiatry include: (1) The Eighth Amendment forbids the execution of persons who are mentally incompetent in regard to their ability to appreciate the reasons for punishment. (2) A mentally-ill prisoner may be forcibly given neuroleptics if he presents a danger to himself or others. (3) Forced medication may not be used during the trial and sentencing phase if it has the potential to change the defendant's demeanor significantly enough to affect his defense. (4) Aggravating psychological factors affecting a convictee may be balanced against mitigating factors in considering whether death sentence should be imposed. (5) The psychosocial impact of the crime upon the victim's family may be presented during the sentencing phase as factors relevant to sentencing. (6) Adolescents and retarded individuals are not immune from the death penalty simply by virtue of their age or level of intelligence.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2001

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: a basis for jus cogens prohibition of juvenile capital punishment in the United States.

This article supports the position that the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) articulates a prohibition of capital punishment of juveniles that now must be considered a norm of jus cogens. The article provides statistics and trends regarding juveniles who commit capital crimes and describes how the U.S. justice system handles such juveniles, including Eighth Amendment analyses of juvenile executions under the U.S. Constitution. The article also discusses community consensus regarding evolving standards of decency, describes international law on the capital punishment of juveniles, and outlines worldwide trends in juvenile executions. It then defines and describes the concepts of customary international law and jus cogens, applying these concepts to the problem of the execution of juveniles in the United States. The article concludes by suggesting that there is a moral imperative for universal prohibition of juvenile capital punishment and by speculating about the domestic effects of applying such a jus cogens norm in the United States.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

An approach to develop effective health care decision making for women in prison.

BACKGROUND: Decision making about medical treatment, advance care planning and end-of-life care often is limited or influenced by a patient's capacity to read or comprehend crucial information. Ineffective communication between patient and physician, and the complex nature of serious illness and dying also affect these decisions. America's incarcerated have virtually no autonomy in decision making, especially with regard to medical care and treatment. For the nearly 100,000 incarcerated women in the United States, medical issues differ significantly from those of male prisoners. Many women enter prison with chronic illnesses or are diagnosed with such illnesses while in prison. In addition, America's prison population reflects our country's unsolved literacy problems with almost two thirds of aging inmates lacking basic literacy skills. Maintaining a balance between the Eighth Amendment rights of prisoners and their status as wards of the state is a concern for inmates and for those responsible for their care. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify informational barriers to people making medical care and treatment decisions, particularly those with low literacy. Findings were used to in the development of a tool to assist patients to initiate discussion and become active participants in their own care. DESIGN: Female inmates of diverse ethnicity and literacy levels were recruited through self-selection from the Central California Women's Facility near Sacramento to participate in focus group discussions. The focus groups were guided by a set of research questions and were facilitated by the first author to identify informational barriers to medical care needs. SETTING: The female prison setting was identified as an appropriate setting for the development of a new approach to stimulate effective decision making by introducing basic information on medical care and treatment, advance care planning, and end-of-life care. A total of 113 inmates participated in 16 focus group, each 2 hours in length. RESULTS: Findings were used to develop a handbook to assist low literacy populations in general, and female inmates in particular, to obtain appropriate medical care and treatment and to make advance care decisions regarding the end of life. CONCLUSION: Those who face chronic, potentially life-limiting illness cannot make meaningful decisions regarding medical care and treatment without having a basic foundation of health information. Acquiring knowledge and improving communication skills reduce stress and vulnerability, assuring individuals of some control over decision making.

Communication Barriers↗
PubMed1999

Biomechanics of judicial hanging: a case report.

A prisoner in Washington State in the United States of America appealed against sentence of death by hanging on the grounds that it was 'cruel and unusual' and hence contravened the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution. The man weighed 184 kg (406 lb) and it was suggested that the 'drop' proposed to effect judicial hanging might result in decapitation. This hypothesis was tested by applying simple biodynamic principles to the available data from past hangings. It was concluded that decapitation was a significant possibility.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Missouri overrules the United States Supreme Court on capital punishment for minors.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1989 decision in Stanford v. Kentucky, the Eighth Amendment's cruel and unusual punishments clause does not shield minors 16 or 17 years of age from the death penalty. Holding, astonishingly, that Stanford is no longer the law of the land, the Missouri Supreme Court recently reversed the death sentence of a 17-year-old murderer in Simmons v. Roper. The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari to consider whether Stanford survives its own burial by the state court.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Cruel and unusual punishment: the health care of women in prison.

Nationally, the number of female prison inmates--although small compared with the number of male inmates--is on the upswing. Since correctional facilities are legally mandated under the eighth amendment to provide inmates with their constitutional right to health care, innovative methods of delivering that care will have to be devised within a current system that is neither funded nor prepared to design and dispense such programs. The most frequent medical problems among incarcerated women are drug/alcohol addiction, gynecological diseases, and exacerbation of chronic health problems, particularly hypertension, diabetes and epilepsy. The prison health care system is also being faced with management of an increasing number of pregnant and postpartal inmates. Health needs of this group include basic health care, teaching, counseling and supportive care--services that can be appropriately provided by nurse practitioners and other health care providers.

Child↗