US Court Ruling Furthers South Dakota Tribe’s Right to Health – HRW

Tribal Treaty Requires US Government to Provide Competent Care

A United States Court of Appeals last week affirmed a lower court ruling that the US government is obliged to provide competent health care to South Dakota’s Rosebud Sioux Tribe, a modest but important victory for the human right to health of tribe members, which has been undermined for years.

In 2015, the government closed the emergency department for the Rosebud Indian Reservation’s only hospital after an inspection found it posed “an immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of patients.” The hospital was run by the Indian Health Service (IHS), the federal agency that provides healthcare services to American Indian and Alaskan Natives (AIAN), and was previously a subject of a scathing 2010 Senate Committee investigation.

Read More: https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/08/31/us-court-ruling-furthers-south-dakota-tribes-right-health