In April, our Center for Health Policy and Law hosted a two-day conference entitled "Diseases of Despair: The Role of Policy and Law." Our friends at Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center is now hosting a blog symposium from that conference on Bill of Health. 

Twenty-six groups continue to advocate for medication assisted treatment to be required in Massachusetts jails and prisons, emphasizing that, "The science and research on this is clear. To wait any longer to do this is just going to result in needles loss of life," according to the chief executive of the Association for Behavioral Health Care.

In May, I wrote here about the new "compassionate release" program in Massachusetts that allows "incarcerated individuals diagnosed with a terminal illness - defined as an incurable condition that will likely cause death within 18 months - or those with 'permanent incapacitation' to request medical release before the end of their sentences. We now know that the first applicant has been denied.

On June 7, the SJC ruled in the plaintiff's favor, reversing the lower court's order of summary judgment for the defendant pharmacy.  The court held that a pharmacy has a "limited legal duty to take reasonable steps to notify both the patient and her prescribing physician of the need for prior authorization each time [she] tried to fill her prescription." 

PHLW will be looking at various provisions of the bill and how they intersect with public health. In Part 1, we looked at the creation of “medical parole” in the Commonwealth. In today’s Part 2, we look at drug crimes and mandatory minimum sentences.

PHLW will be looking at various provisions of the bill and how they intersect with public health. First, we look at the creation of “medical parole” in the Commonwealth.