PDF Like They’re Waiting for you to Die: Development of the Inadequate Medical Care Doctrine from District Court to United States Sentencing Commission
This article will explore the development of the inadequacy of medical care doctrine, from one judge’s decision to the Sentencing Commission including this factor as an enumerated ground for compassionate release in the sentencing guidelines. It will set the stage by reviewing the BOP’s history of inadequate medical care and history of neglecting compassionate release requests. This failure on the part of BOP led to the dramatic changes in the First Step Act which opened the door
for more compassionate release litigation. The article will then discuss how COVID changed everything and taught judges about the use of compassionate release as a lifeline for medically vulnerable people. It will then present and analyze some recent litigation that has raised issues of inadequate medical care. Finally, the article will end in the present—reflecting on the current, 2023, sentencing guidelines which include a ground for compassionate release based on inadequate medical care.