Melnik v. Aranas
In collaboration with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison LLP and the Center for Health Law & Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School, Rights Behind Bars filed an amicus brief on behalf of a group of medical organizations and doctors who specialized in correctional or kidney health. Chronic hepatitis C (HCV) kills more Americans than every other infectious disease combined, and even though effective treatments that eliminate HCV in 99% of cases have been available for a number of years, some prison systems deny treatment to most or all of their patients with HCV due simply to the cost of the drugs. Melnik is one of a growing number of actions to argue that categorical denial of treatment to people in prison with chronic hepatitis C on the basis of an outmoded institutional policy violates the Eighth Amendment. Our amicus brief makes clear that revolutionary advances in the treatment of HCV have changed the standard of care such that virtually all patients with chronic hepatitis C should be treated.