Add a comment July 17th, 2008 by bronxdoc
We have just published Volume 3, Number 2 of Social Medicine. The full table of contents in available on line. Here is some information about the articles:
Earlier this year we invited Asa Cristina Laurell, a prominent Mexican public health activist to prepare a special issue on progressive health reforms in Latin America. Dr. Laurell was the head of the Mexico City Health Department from 2000-2006 and - had the Mexican elections not been stolen by the right - she would currently be Mexico’s Minister of Health. She contributed a paper describing the Health Department’s experience with providing free medicines and medical care to people who did not qualify for coverage under Mexico’s employment-based Social Security System. Other papers examine Brazil’s Unified Health System, the SUS, which is one of the world’s largest public health systems; the Venezuelan attempts to provide free health to the all citizens with assistance from the Cubans; Uruguay’s moves to a public-private system that will guarantee the right to health; and finally Bogota’s experience with providing poor communities with access to health care through the Health at Home program.
American readers may be particularly interested in the article by Razel Remen and Lillian Holloway, two US students studying medicine at the ELAM school in Havana Cuba.
We publish two articles of original research. A Hong Kong team reports on public attitudes during the SARS epidemic in 2003, while Dr. Paula Acevedo presents data on reproductive patterns among Latin American immigrants in Spain.
Sadly, we publish the last article written by Edmundo Granda, one of the founders of ALAMES, the Latin American Social Medicine Association. He passed away in April of this year. He approved the final galleys of the Spanish version of his paper via blackberry from the hospital on the week he died. His paper considers the historical trajectory of ALAMES and where Latin American Social Medicine may be heading.
Finally, Dr. Lanny Smith interviews Chilean activist Victor Toro, a political refugee from Pinochet’s Chile, who is now facing deportation from the US, his home of nearly 2 decades. Ironically, he has been a immigrant rights activist (and patient of Dr. Smith) in the Bronx, New York, for most of these years. His account of becoming ill in an ICE detention facility mirrors the concerns discussed in our July 10th posting about Dr. Homer Venters.
Posted by Matt Anderson
Add a comment July 10th, 2008 by bronxdoc
What do Social Medicine doctors do?
Dr. Homer Venters, a 2007 RSPM Internal Medicine Graduate, is currently working as an Attending Physician at the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture and is a Public Health Fellow, New York University. During his residency at Montefiore, Dr. Venters worked with Bronx Defenders, a legal aid organization in the Bronx, helping to get people involved in the criminal justice system into primary care. This work resulted in the publication of an article about the tragic case of Scott Ortiz in the Harm Reduction Journal. His work as a resident was awarded the Dan Leight Social Medicine Award.
On June 4 2008, Dr. Venters testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law. He discussed problems with the medical care provided to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees. It is clear to people working in the field that ICE detainees are not accorded the same medical care provided to other US prisoners. Dr. Venters outlined some of the reasons why. Specifically he pointed out that the ICE medical system is designed to care for acute problems; it is not set up for persons with chronic medical issues. To quote from his testimony:
“This institutional aversion to caring for detainees with chronic disease is evidenced in recent detainee deaths. One year ago, a 23 year old transgender woman, Victoria Arellano was detained by ICE. Ms. Arellano had AIDS and was taking a life saving medicine to prevent opportunistic infections that could quickly cause pneumonia and death were she to stop. These medicines are essential for people with AIDS and even a brief interruption risks sickness and death for a patient. Despite reporting her medical history and her medication when detained (and throughout her detention), Ms. Arellano was refused her medicine. Over the following weeks, Ms. Arellano developed a cough and fever, which should have prompted hospitalization and evaluation. Instead, Ms. Arellano was given an inappropriate antibiotic by the detention center medical staff, was still refused her needed medication, and returned to her cell. By the time Ms. Arellano’s cellmates staged a protest to draw attention to her deteriorating condition, she had become very ill and died soon thereafter, comatose and shackled to her bed. Faced with a common chronic disease, ICE medical staff withheld the correct medicines, gave inappropriate medicines and failed to seek more competent care for Ms. Arellano. The care that Ms. Arellano required would be routine in almost any medical clinic or hospital in the United States.”
The full testimony is available at the following link: http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/Venters080604.pdf
Posted by Matt Anderson
We have just published Volume 3, Number 2 of Social Medicine. The full table of contents in available on line. Here is some information about the articles: