Postawko v. Missouri Department of Corrections

The ACLU of Missouri and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center (MJC) at St. Louis jointly filed a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of Missourians who are asking for their constitutional and statutory rights to life-saving treatment while in prison.

The Missouri Department of Corrections and its healthcare provider are intentionally defying medical standards in refusing to adequately treat the thousands of inmates with hepatitis C.

At least 10 to 15 percent of the population under the supervision, care, and custody of the Missouri Department of Corrections is infected with hepatitis C. The exact number of hepatitis C-positive inmates is unknown because of lack of routine testing.

The current guidance for treatment of hepatitis C, jointly set by the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease and the Infectious Disease Society of America, definitively establishes a 12-week treatment regimen with direct-acting, anti-viral drugs as the medically accepted standard of care. This treatment results in curing the disease in at least 90 percent of cases.

Find the Legal Glossary here: https://www.aclu-mo.org/en/node/124