{"id":11314,"date":"2021-05-07T12:23:01","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T16:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=11314"},"modified":"2021-05-07T12:23:01","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T16:23:01","slug":"charmaine-white-face-fortitude-in-fighting-for-indian-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/05\/07\/charmaine-white-face-fortitude-in-fighting-for-indian-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Charmaine White Face: Fortitude in fighting for Indian health care"},"content":{"rendered":"\"charmainewhiteface\"\r\n
Charmaine White Face in her home in Rapid City, South Dakota. Photo by Richie Richards \/ Native Sun News Today<\/figcaption>\r\n
Getting to the U.S. Supreme Court<\/div>\r\n
Friday, May 7, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Charmaine White Face <\/div>\r\n
nativesunnews.today<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWhen Donna Gilbert asked me to be a part of her lawsuit, I immediately said yes. After having survived three other lawsuits, I should have been leery. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nBut when peoples\u2019 lives are at stake, it is not hard to make a hard decision.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nInitially it was the Oglala Sioux Tribal Court (OST). It was my son\u2019s idea to go to the Tribal Court because we knew what the outcome would be. The OST court would dismiss our case because the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen\u2019s Health Board (GPTCHB) was under the jurisdiction of the state of South Dakota and was not a Tribal Organization.\r\n

<\/p>\r\ngilbertvweahkee<\/a>\r\n

Donna Gilbert, Julie Mohney and Charmaine White Face have been part of a lawsuit challenging the Indian Health Service for approving a self-determination contract with the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen\u2019s Health Board, now known as the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board. The plaintiffs are asking the U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> to hear their case after losing at the lower levels of the federal judicial system. PDF: Writ of Certiorari: Gilbert v. Weahkee<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n But we needed this verified by a court. We also knew that the other federal courts would acknowledge the Tribal court ruling, or were supposed to. It would be a win for the OST Court and for the patients who use Sioux San Hospital. As it turned out, the federal District Court and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals both ignored and disregarded the OST court ruling.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe second place we went was the state court since GPTCHB was under state jurisdiction. However, the GPTCHB used as their defense the J. L. Ward case in which a federal judge magically gave \u201ctribal sovereign immunity\u201d to the GPTCHB. This happened before the Oglala Sioux Tribal Court had ruled that the GPTCHB was NOT a Tribal Organization.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n Our case was dismissed at the state level because GPTCHB had \u201ctribal sovereign immunity.\u201d I didn\u2019t know a judge could grant \u201ctribal sovereign immunity\u201d or the IHS decide an organization they established could be a Tribal Organization without being under any Tribe. Learn something new everyday…even if it is illegal.\r\n

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