PLC improves well-being of OC residents through Health Law Unit
According to the National Center for Medical Legal Partnerships, 1 in 6 people needs legal care to be healthy. For many Orange County residents, the Public Law Center (PLC) is the only place to turn to when their health care needs intersect with their legal woes. Senior lead attorney Leslie Bigler Lindgren, staff attorney Zeenat Hassan and intake specialist Jazmina Castillo form PLC’s Health Law Unit and run the Medical-Legal Partnership and AIDS Legal Assistance Projects.
PLC’s Medical Legal Partnerships with CHOC Children’s, the St. Joseph Health System and the Laguna Beach Community Clinic, provide holistic care to low-income patients.
Social determinants of health have a significant impact on the health and well being of Orange County residents. In over 20 years of providing civil legal aid within the health care context, PLC has traced several of these social conditions to laws that are unfairly applied or under-enforced. For example, people wrongfully denied medical coverage lack critical resources to lead healthy and productive lives. Families living in mold and rodent-infested homes–in violation of tenant protections–become ill or exacerbate existing conditions.
The complexities of either the legal or health care system alone are enough to serve as insurmountable obstacles to many Orange County families. When the challenges of both systems collided, even the most educated clients struggle. Recently, a multilingual gentleman with degrees from MIT and UCLA was referred to PLC by a community clinic. Facing multiple serious medical conditions, the client had not been able to work for an extended period of time. After his community clinic encountered multiple obstacles to enrolling him in health insurance during the Obamacare rollout, PLC successfully intervened. Now, he has the medical care he needs and can work again.
Leslie Lindgren has had many successes during her 7-year tenure at PLC. She started part-time in the AIDS Legal Assistance Project, ultimately taking charge of the project. Shortly after joining PLC full-time, Leslie started two successful medical-legal partnerships, one with Laguna Beach Community Clinic and one with the St. Joseph’s Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment. In January 2014, PLC opened Family Legal Assistance at CHOC Children’s Hospital, which provided pro bono representation in probate court to over 60 client-patients in the partnership’s first 7 months.
Prior to joining PLC, Leslie successfully resolved both sophisticated litigation and transactional matters. She practiced in a variety of legal organizations, including a large firm, as in-house counsel and as a solo practitioner. Leslie is a graduate of Pomona College and UCLA School of Law.