Allegheny County Doctor Files Complaint against Corizon over Hiring Practices
Allegheny County Doctor Files Complaint against Corizon over Hiring Practices
by David Reutter
Corizon, a private for-profit company, is facing a complaint filed with Pennsylvania’s Human Relations Commission that claims a bias against women, immigrants, and doctors who complain against frugal prisoner health care was the basis for the company’s failure to hire Dr. Lucille Aiken.
The complaint was filed after Dr. Aiken learned Corizon decided to not retain her services when it took over healthcare for prisoners at the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ) on September 1, 2013.
Dr. Aiken has been working at ACJ since 2002. Her motivation for leaving private practice for prisoner healthcare was to bring her “compassionate approach to people who probably never had that.”
At first, the change was shocking. “I felt like I was working at a clinic in Africa,” said Dr. Aiken, whose husband is African-American. She said she was often “bashed” in staff meetings, and underwent depositions in prisoner lawsuits that resulted in her criticizing poor treatment.
Prior to Corizon, ACJ prisoners received health care from Allegheny Health, a non-profit entity created by the county Health Department. Its Chief Operations Officer, Dana Phillips, and Dr. Aiken regularly clashed.
“Sending people out [to ...