Lessenger J E
Postgrad Med. 1982 Sep;72(3):131-4, 137, 141-4. doi: 10.1080/00325481.1982.11716188.
Prisoners deserve to be taken seriously and treated with respect by the physician, as does any person seeking medical care. Treatment should include an adequate history and physical examination as well as indicated laboratory tests. Anxiety is a ubiquitous problem in prison life and can adversely affect any medical condition. The diagnosis of malingering is and should be one of exclusion, and the physician should keep in mind that a seemingly healthy prisoner might have several other reasons for seeking medical help. The physician needs to be confident of the diagnosis before returning the person to the cell block, as prisoners do not have freedom of access to medical care. New standards, programs, literature, journals, and conferences have drawn attention to the jail as a place where the physician can intervene in a positive way to decrease the recycling of crime and illness. It is not enough to be able to practice good medicine in a jail. Such practice must recognize the special needs of prisoners and the special problems inherent in the jail environment.
囚犯理应受到医生的认真对待和尊重，就如同任何寻求医疗护理的人一样。治疗应包括详尽的病史采集、体格检查以及必要的实验室检查。焦虑在监狱生活中普遍存在，并且会对任何医疗状况产生不利影响。诈病的诊断是且应当是一种排除性诊断，医生应牢记，看似健康的囚犯寻求医疗帮助可能还有其他多种原因。在将囚犯送回牢房区之前，医生必须对诊断有把握，因为囚犯无法自由获得医疗护理。新的标准、项目、文献、期刊和会议已使监狱成为医生能够以积极方式进行干预以减少犯罪和疾病循环的场所而受到关注。仅仅能够在监狱里提供良好的医疗服务是不够的。这种医疗服务必须认识到囚犯的特殊需求以及监狱环境中固有的特殊问题。
