Medical-Legal Partnerships

From rats to heaters, doctor-lawyer team fights barriers to family health care, By Lena H. Sun, May 26, 2010, Washington Post: “Thirteen-year-old Haji Conteh had all the irritating symptoms of seasonal allergies when her father took her to see a pediatrician at a D.C. clinic last summer. But when the doctor questioned Haji and her father, she began to suspect there might be a cause other than pollen for the girl’s sneezing and itchy eyes: the rats and mold in the family’s Northwest Washington apartment. The pediatrician didn’t have the time or expertise to probe more deeply. But she did refer the family to a specialist– not another doctor, but a lawyer. The family is among 1,400 referred by doctors and others at Children’s National Medical Center to the Children’s Law Center. As part of a medical-legal partnership that began in 2002, lawyers work alongside doctors at four District clinics run by the hospital. Their shared goal is to overcome legal and social challenges that threaten the care of their patients — low-income children, predominantly African American, and virtually all covered by Medicaid…”