At this time, hospital conditions were bad and people didn’t have access to their own records and didn’t have the right to be treated well. So, the second success, another important thing, is the Patient’s Bill of Rights, which is the 10 points that you find in hospital rooms. The Patient’s Bill of Rights was actually the result of a collaboration between members of the Young Lords and the Black Panther Party, with the assistance of the doctors, and written by me. Although it is considerably watered down now, you still find that Patient’s Bill of Rights on the wall of every hospital. It’s not as radical as the original . . . but still includes some of the issues we highlighted, such as the ability to have access to your medical records. The ability to be treated like a human being, not to have research done on you unless you give your consent. All those things are really important.
A third important thing is the Lincoln Hospital drug detoxification program, which still is in existence today. We started that program. It was established by Panama [Vicente “Panama” Alba] and Butch [Ford, a Bronx activist who had run a detox program in his home] with the support of the Young Lords, the Black Panthers, and the radical doctors. It’s still in existence today, of course, but considerably watered down by the people who are running it now. But it wouldn’t have been there without our struggle.
Several key NY Black Panther Party members played a prominent role in leading these initiatives; including Michael Tabor who identified the link between fighting drug addiction and revolution, Zayd Shakur who spearheaded the occupation of Lincoln Hospital, Assata Shakur and Joan Bird who used their positions as nurses to improve access to healthcare for the people, Cleo Silvers who drafted the Patient’s Bill of Rights, Curtis Powell’s work in acupuncture and drug treatment, and Dr. Mutulu Shakur’s establishment of a multiracial drug treatment clinic
Another Panther member involved in the health activism initiatives and the drafting of a Patient’s Bill of Rights was Afeni Shakur
