Editorial: Indian health care a trust responsibility

Tuesday, July 31, 2007  

"Access to and availability of health care for the first citizens of this nation, Native Americans, was a trust contract solidified in the Constitution in 1787.

That's a given.

Fast forward 220 years and the results are grim.

Medicine progressed from a world where a staph infection in a cut on the leg could be fatal, to the advent of antibiotics in the late 1800s, to a modern day concern of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Glimpse back in time and the miracles of modern medicine are nothing less than miraculous.

The United State's commitment to this country's original citizens is not keeping up.

The Indian Health Service is wrought with examples of years' long waiting lists for everything from hip replacements to back surgeries. The impact to a person on the waiting list's quality of life is immeasurable.

And the stories get worse."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Accessibility to health care a trust responsibility to America's tribes (The Great Falls Tribune 7/31)

Relevant Links:
Indian Health Service - http://www.ihs.gov

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