100%. I'd support that. Individually we are powerless, but if even half of the patients/caregivers joined an advocacy type group we'd finally have a seat at the table.
How could this be accomplished?
I would think a simple government program/agency created through legislation and aimed specifically at respecting the patient and caregiver rights that were established through MMMA. Our law makers (House & Senate) have the responsibility of oversight as it relates to MMMA and it's time to call them out on that.
Think of the Civil Rights administration on a state level as the model for this agency. Harassment and retaliation of protected classes are combated with legal representation otherwise denied through the cost prohibitive free market of lawyers today and how that relates to our civil courts (ie There is no such thing as a public defender in a civil court and you'll need a lawyer just to enter = inequality/wealth gap per "rule of law"). Patients and Caregivers would become a protected class under this legislation/agency and actions against them would be reviewable by law. The wild range of legal interpretations currently deployed across the state by LEO and the courts (Oakland vs Genesse Counties for example) would be established and reviewed. The legal standing of this agency would allow for civil law suites to force integrity statewide and the following court orders would cease the harassment and retaliation within the criminal justice system that we know of today. This should be a natural process of law if all things were truly equal, but as is the criminal courts are bankrupting patients and caregivers into pleas and ensuring they have no ability to take any such legal recourse ... Seven years in and not one notable civil case/court order
I know it sounds a bit crazy (that may just be me), but there is really something here ...
