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Articles by Eike Blohm, MD

Arizona Prison Forcibly Induced Labor for Pregnant Prisoners

by Eike Blohm, MD

After a 2019 incident during which a prisoner gave birth in her cell – delivering a baby into the toilet while guards ignored her cries for help – Arizona’s Perryville Prison in Buckeye started inducing labor for pregnant prisoners.

Inducing labor involves intravenous administration of drugs ...

Prisoner Health Update: Tuberculosis

by Eike Blohm, MD

Tuberculosis (TB) is an illness caused by a mycobacterium, a class of bacteria that is hard to see under the microscope, difficult to grow in culture, and has the audacity to live in the very immune cells (marcophages) that are tasked with hunting and killing bacteria. ...

No More Naps for Massachusetts Guards

By Eike Blohm, MD

After two years of negotiations between the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC), an agreement was reached on December 20, 2022, to fix atrocious mental health care in state prisons, which the Feds consider so “cruel and unusual” that it ...

Prisoner Health Update: K2

by Eike Blohm, MD

Drugs are ubiquitous behind prison walls, but screening of items sent to prisoners and random drug testing incentivizes the use of substances difficult to detect and easy to conceal. Synthetic cannabinoids, known under numerous monikers such as K2 and Spice, fill that niche.

Originally synthesized by ...

Detainees Awaiting Psychiatric Beds Suffer Permanent Harm in Jails

by Eike Blohm, MD

Defendants nationwide who require competency restoration are suffering irreparable harm awaiting psychiatric beds in solitary confinement.

Here’s what happens: An individual with major mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, comes to the attention of law enforcement due to the delusions or mania that are ...

California Extends Medi-Cal Health Benefits to Prisoners Nearing Release

by Eike Blohm, MD

On January 26, 2023, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) granted California approval of a plan to extend Medi-Cal, the state’s equivalent to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income individuals. As of that date, prisoners scheduled for release will be able to ...

Arizona Prisoner Waits in Excruciating Pain While Incompetent Executioners Fumble

by Eike Blohm, MD

A frail, elderly, wheelchair-bound prisoner had to assist the execution team killing him in Arizona on June 8, 2022. It was the state’s second execution since breaking an eight-year hiatus to kill Clarence Dixon the month before. [See: PLN, Feb. 2023, p.40.]

The most recently ...

Prisoner Health Alert: Elderly Prisoners No Longer Required to Pay for Medicare Part B

by Eike Blohm, MD

A change in Medicare rules ends years of forcing elderly prisoners to pay for benefits they cannot use or face life-long penalties.

Americans 65 years and older are covered by Medicare, the government-run health insurance. Medicare consists of several parts: Part A covers hospitalizations; enrollment in ...

Elderly Prisoners Catch a Break on Medicare Part B

by Eike Blohm, MD

A change in Medicare rules ends a years-long policy of forcing elderly prisoners to pay for benefits they are literally not free to use or else face life-long penalties.

Americans 65 years and older are covered by Medicare, the government-run health insurance. Medicare consists of several ...

Transgender Idaho Prisoner Who Won Gender Conforming Surgery Awarded Over $2.6 Million in Legal Fees

by Eike Blohm, MD

On September 30, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho awarded $2,631,593 in attorneys fees and expenses to a former state prisoner, who successfully sued for gender confirming surgery to address a severe case of gender dysphoria that included several attempts at self-castration. ...