RAPID CITY, S.D. (Rapid City Journal) — A judge has ruled the federal government is required to provide adequate health care to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe as part of a 1868 treaty.
Federal Judge Roberto Lange ruled this week the Treaty of Fort Laramie guaranteed the government would provide some level of health care in return for the land the Sioux Nation forfeited.
The tribe sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Indian Health Service in 2016 after the Rosebud IHS Hospital emergency room was closed because of problems at the facility.
Tribal members were diverted to hospitals some 50 miles away.