Medical malpractice in correctional facilities: State tort remedies for inappropriate and inadequate health care administered to prisoners

Abstract

This article reviews state tort remedies assessed against correctional personnel for inappropriate and/or inadequate health care administered to prisoners. It reviews medical malpractice and negligence law generally and then applies these legal pre-cepts to jail and prison health care legal actions. Through an inductive process, the cases from various state courts are divided into four categories: administration of inadequate or inappropriate medication, performance of inappropriate medical pro-cedures, inappropriate diagnosis of serious medical conditions, and undertreatment of serious medical problems. The article concludes by calling for more research on health care within correctional settings