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OPEN LETTER BY IMPACTED FAMILIES
The undersigned families, support the Medical Civil Rights Act. This Act seeks to establish a statutory right to emergency medical care when a person experiences an emergency medical condition during law enforcement interactions. Currently, there is no such right in any U.S. jurisdiction except Connecticut, where this bill passed unanimously in 2023.
As background, this bill would require a law enforcement officer to immediately summon emergency medical services if a person appears to be in medical crisis, or if a person communicates that they are experiencing an emergency medical condition.
Without such statutory protections, people may continue to die without access to medical care. Approximately 75 million people experience at least one law enforcement contact per year, either in the field or in the carceral setting. Medical emergencies may arise for many reasons in these circumstances. This bill would guarantee that all persons experiencing medical emergencies are immediately guaranteed the delivery of emergency medical care, regardless of the cause of the medical emergency.
The Medical Civil Rights Act would not only prevent avoidable deaths and poor medical outcomes, but it would build trust in law enforcement officers and save taxpayers billions of dollars associated with compensating for such injuries and deaths. The spirit and objective of this bill is to protect both contactees and law enforcement officers.
Despite the many differences among the cases in this nation, many avoidable deaths during law enforcement interactions have involved delays in the provision of emergency medical care. Thus, the undersigned families could prevent countless deaths, by uniting in solidarity, to urge passage of this bill in Massachusetts and subsequently in other states and federally.
We, the families, want to advance meaningful civil rights change for all, and ultimately to uphold the mission and vision of the initiative's co-founder, Dr. Robert G. Dluhy:“No more lives should be lost.”
*Your support will be shared on ImpactedFamilies.com, along with public officials, legislators and the media.
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