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Articles by Eike Blohm, MD

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 …

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 …

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.]

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 …

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 …

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 …

Arizona Resumes Executions

by Eike Blohm, MD and Chuck Sharman

After Arizona resumed executions last year, following an eight-year hiatus, it quickly murdered three murderers on its death row.

On May 11, 2022, a lethal injection of pentobarbital was given to Clarence Dixon, 66, a mentally ill Native American, by …

Prisoner Health Update: Hepatitis C

by Eike Blohm, MD

Hepatitis C (HepC) is inflammation of the liver due to the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). The virus infects about 1 to 2% of the U.S. population, but it is likely the most prevalent infection in American prisons. As there are no national standardized testing …

DOJ Releases Special Report on U.S. Prison COVID-19 Response

by Eike Blohm, MD

A special report issued by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in August 2022 tracked the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in state and federal prisons. It found they suffered high rates of infection and death despite lockdowns and suspended visitation. There was …

$3 Million From Forsyth County, No Stay in Civil Case Against Wellpath Nurse Indicted for Involuntary Manslaughter of N.C. Jail Detainee

by Eike Blohm, MD

After a federal court in North Carolina declined to stay a civil case against Wellpath and a nurse it employed accused in the wrongful death of a detainee at the Forsyth County Jail, the county settled its part in the case for $3 million …