Is There A Doctor In The House?

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Jailed DC youth are under attack by lame duck Mayor Fenty, say local healthcare unions. The Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) plans to eliminate medical doctors at New Beginnings and the Youth Services Center on October 22, reports Vanessa Dixon of the Doctor’s Council. “The removal of physicians from daily input and oversight at DYRS may have grave implications for the health, safety and well-being of the youth that are in our care,” DC Nurses Association president Sharon Payne recently told the City Council. “The idea that staff RNs can provide adequate medical care without on-site medical direction is profoundly unsafe and professionally unsound.” Payne added that in just one week without physicians “there have been multiple misdiagnoses and medication errors, some of which could have been deadly.” Vanessa Dixon of the Doctor’s Council warned that “this ill-conceived scheme will sacrifice appropriate medical care for at-risk youth with significant medical and psychiatric issues.”