Prisoner's toothache untreated - Ombudsman warns of infringement of fundamental rights

He had been having a toothache for months, could hardly eat and, yet, he had not received any medical treatment but painkillers – a prisoner complained to the ombudsman. Ombudsman Máté Szabó finds it unacceptable that the penitentiary institution did not ensure dental treatment to a prisoner in pain.

A convict in the penitentiary institution of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County consulted the prison doctor complaining of a toothache back in August 2012. The doctor prescribed some pain killers and informed him that dental treatment was provided on a first come first serve basis. The prison doctor requested the prisoner to present his social security identification number, since without it special medical treatment could not be provided. The prison does not operate a dental office, if necessary, the services of an outside regional healthcare provider are called in.

From August 2012 through the midst of January 2013, the prisoner had not received any medical treatment, having to take pain killers for months until, finally, he was taken to the medical centre where his tooth was extracted. Máté Szabó, commissioner for fundamental rights stated that the penitentiary institution had infringed the prisoner's right to health because it had failed to ensure him dental treatment for months. Furthermore, it had breached the requirement of legal certainty deriving from the principle of the rule of law and the right of fair procedure because it had not taken the necessary measures to obtain the social security identification number of the prisoner while putting it as a condition to providing special medical treatment.

Once the Ombudsman had requested information on the prisoner's health condition and the reasons of the medical treatment's delay, the warden and his colleague called the prisoner to account for having complained to the Ombudsman. Therefore the commissioner concluded that the warden and his colleague had violated the prisoner's right to complain, the right of fair procedure and the prohibition of degrading treatment.

The Ombudsman asked the Director General of the Hungarian Prison Service to call the attention of all wardens under his direction to the fact that prisoners shall not be held accountable for the contents of their complaints submitted to the commissioner for fundamental rights. The commissioner suggested to the warden to take all necessary measures to request and obtain social security identification numbers for prisoners if required for treatment in medical institutions outside the prison.