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Legal Advocacy to Protect Health Care Access for People who Use(d) Drugs
Please join this program which is co-sponsored by the Great Lakes ADA Center, Legal Action Center and Vital Strategies. More than 107,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2021, with deaths rising fastest in Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. People who use drugs or who have substance use disorders often experience discrimination when trying to access health care and other supportive services. Federal civil rights laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provide critical anti-discrimination protections, but these protections are often misunderstood and underused. This webinar will explore how lawyers and other advocates can challenge the pervasive discrimination that prevents people who use drugs or who have a substance use disorder (SUD) from accessing lifesaving services. Covered topics include,

• The science behind substance use, addiction, and evidence-based responses such as treatment with the medications methadone and buprenorphine.

• Common scenarios in which people who use drugs or who have substance use disorders face discrimination.

• Legal analysis – what constitutes discrimination in health care settings such as the denial of admission to skilled nursing facilities and recovery housing based on someone’s treatment with medication for opioid use disorder, the failure of emergency departments to provide required care to people with SUD-related emergencies, and the denial of health services based on current or recent drug use.

• Recent legal developments concerning the rights of people who use drugs or who have an SUD to receive health care or other supportive services.

• Advocacy strategies for attorneys whose clients experience discriminatory barriers to care based on current or past substance use.

• An initiative by the Legal Action Center and Vital Strategies to bring impact litigation in this evolving area of law.

Requests for accommodations must be submitted by 3/20/2023 to adagreatlakes@uic.edu

Mar 30, 2023 12:00 PM in Central Time (US and Canada)

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Speakers

Dr. Bryan Johnston
Family and Addiction Medicine Physician and Assistant Professor @Medical College of Wisconsin
Bryan Johnston is a Family and Addiction Medicine Physician who treats substance use disorders in the inpatient and outpatient setting. He is an Assistant Professor at Medical College of Wisconsin and teaches medical students and resident physicians about caring for people who use drugs. He has presented widely about stigma and advocacy for people who use drugs in medical and community settings.
Sally Friedman
Senior Vice President of Legal Advocacy @Legal Action Center
Sally Friedman is the Senior Vice President of Legal Advocacy at the Legal Action Center, a non-profit organization that uses legal and policy strategies to fight discrimination, build health equity, and restore opportunity for people with arrest and conviction records, substance use disorders, and HIV or AIDS. Ms. Friedman has litigated precedent-setting cases such as Beckett v. Aetna, a class action lawsuit challenging Aetna’s violation of over 13,000 members’ HIV privacy rights, and Innovative Health Systems v. City of White Plains, a federal lawsuit establishing that the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits using zoning laws to exclude facilities serving people with disabilities. She has worked extensively to reduce barriers to medications for opioid use disorder.
Diane Johnston
Senior Staff Attorney @Legal Action Center
Diane Johnston is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Legal Action Center, a non-profit organization that uses legal and policy strategies to fight discrimination, build health equity, and restore opportunity for people with arrest and conviction records, substance use disorders, and HIV or AIDS. Ms. Johnson’s work focuses on impact litigation on behalf of people who use drugs, have substance use disorder, have arrest or conviction records, and/or are living with HIV. Previously, she was an Assistant Attorney General with the New York Attorney General’s Health Care Bureau, where she worked on the State’s public nuisance litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors. Prior to that, Diane practiced in consumer protection law with the Legal Aid Society.

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