What We Do

Doctors & Lawyers Working Together in Billings

By Peter Bovington, Development Specialist

Imagine you have just given birth.  You are afraid to take your baby home to your rental trailer where the bathroom floor is plywood balanced on two-by-fours; where ghastly mold covers and the walls and the heat doesn't’t work.  It’s November.  Your hospital room is warm, but back in the trailer, you’re lucky when you can’t see your breath.  The landlord promised to fix the situation but just never got around to it.  Your baby is here and needs a safe home now. 

What do you do?

If you are lucky enough to be a patient of the Deering Community Health Center in Billings Montana, help is just down the hall and your Doctor is part of your legal team.  That is because Deering Community Health Center hosts The Montana Children & Family Advocacy Program.  The MFAP is run by MLSA attorney Deborah Anspach.  She and Americorps* VISTA Volunteer Bethany Amman spend every afternoon at the Deering Health Center where they work with doctors and social workers to address the civil legal needs of low income patients.

MCFAP is one of about thirty Medical/Legal collaborations around the country that fight to insure that unmet civil legal needs do not harm the health of low income children and families.   In the situation described above, the doctor mentioned in the mother’s chart that she was worried about taking her baby to an unsafe home.  The doctor and a social worker referred the mother to Deborah Anspach who immediately called the City County Health Inspector.  Deborah then presented the landlord with the failed health inspection and got him to agree to move the mother to a new trailer while he fixed the old one.  When the landlord reneged on his agreement, Deborah referred the case to a private attorney who sued the landlord.  The case ultimately settled, and the baby did not have to spend a single day in substandard housing.

MFAP has been handling cases like this for two years.  With the support of MLSA and the Deering Community Health Center, MFAP was able to able to advocate for 126 families in 2005 in matters as diverse as: housing, powers of attorney, wills, or medical directives, disability claims, financial stability, employment law, and family law. Through medical legal collaborations, doctors gain new tools to fight for their low income patients’ health.  Legal aid lawyers gain access to clients early on in those clients’ cases, often when their help can do the most good. 

In Billings, MFAP also takes part in the formal training of Residents at the Deering Community Health Center, and serves as a resource to Residents learning how to advocate for their patients.  MFAP also collaborates with the Billings Clinic and Saint Vincent Health Care, and has involved 23 private attorneys in its work.

The next time you hear a joke about doctors and lawyers, make sure to mention the Montana Children and Family Advocacy Program where they work together for Montana’s low income families and children.