Silicon Valley Medical-Legal Partnership

A new article in Diabetes Forecast highlights how the Diabetes Law Collaborative, an MLP in San Jose, is helping people with diabetes overcome barriers to healthcare.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren paid a visit to Valley Medical Center, a place she knows more about than I do. That's because, among other reasons, she helped save it. Back in the mid-90's, there were some who wanted the County of Santa Clara to get out of the medical center business. Zoe, a county supervisor at the time, said, essentially, "nope - that ain't gonna happen" and fought to keep VMC open and available to everyone.

Sometimes, Dr. Tyler Aguinaldo's patients want to talk to him about everything except their health problems. While Aguinaldo, a diabetes specialist, advises on blood sugar monitoring and insulin injections, patients push back with complaints about their boss cutting back on sick days or the government denying their disability claim....

Your doctor isn’t always the best person to solve your medical problem. Sometimes, instead, it’s a lawyer! Consider for instance the single mom with two boys, frustrated by their weekly asthma attacks and visits to VMC. They know darned well that it’s mold in their apartment walls that’s causing the asthma, yet her landlord wont’ do anything about it…