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Injury Untreated While In Jail

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  • 02-04-2007, 05:06 PM
    indigo
    Injury Untreated While In Jail
    I am writing for my friend. Just over a year ago my friend got hooked on pain pills and, because of different circumstances, was arrested and eventually sent to prison. On her initial arrest, when she was put in jail, the officer did something causing my friend to hit the floor injuring her hip. (I don't know if it was provoked I wasn't there.) While she was in jail, they refused her treatment for her injury. She was sent to prison where they refused her treatment for her injury. Now the prison has told her her hip has been broken and will have to be re-broken to be fixed properly. The break has grown back improperly and her hip is now deformed. Is there anything she can do about this on a legal standpoint? She is due to get out in April and was wondering what, if anything, can be done. This happened in Ohio.
  • 02-07-2007, 10:13 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    She would have to have some evidence that her injury was in fact caused during her fall at the jail. That can be tricky, as it is not uncommon for people who wish to sue the police to claim to be injured in a jail when in fact they were injured prior to arrest. The fact that she was a pain pill addict complicates the picture a bit, as the police may have been skeptical that her demand for a doctor was truly about an injury as opposed to her wanting to get some more pain pills.

    You also don't indicate a timeframe, so there may be a statute of limitations problem. Also, it obviously is not the case that she has been denied medical treatment in prison, as she is still in prison and is receiving medical treatment. Further, it isn't clear what damages she has, beyond having to undergo surgery to repair the fracture, whether she would hav required surgery to repair the fracture if initially given appropriate treatment, and how the delay might affect her long-term recovery.

    I don't want to sound like I'm minimizing your friend's plight, and denial of proper medical care can be a real issue in our nation's jails and prisons. Realistically, your friend needs to get a consultation with a civil rights lawyer in Ohio, and have her case evaluated in detail.
  • 02-08-2007, 11:47 AM
    indigo
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    The time frame I'm not too sure of. I believe it was a year just before Thanksgiving of last year. I realize it was because of the pill addiction that they refused treatment. Knowing how badly she was on a self destruction route during that time, even I didn't believe her when she told me she was in pain and needed something. I do know it did happen in jail, I don't know how it happened. They let her out for 36 hours before she went to prison so she could spent some time with her son. (I think the judge was trying to make a point with her when he did this.) She showed me the bruise on her hip. It was horrible looking, and she could hardly walk then.

    Anyhow, the initial injury happened sometime in November of 2005 but the prison didn't do anything about her hip at first. It was probably about 6 - 8 months later that they checked her hip because they saw a deformity. This is when they told her it had most likely been broken and had healed improperly.
  • 02-08-2007, 12:40 PM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    If she was out of jail for three days and showing off the bruise on her hip, what's her excuse for not seeking medical help at that time?
  • 02-08-2007, 03:42 PM
    seniorjudge
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    Quote:

    Quoting Mr. Knowitall
    View Post
    If she was out of jail for three days and showing off the bruise on her hip, what's her excuse for not seeking medical help at that time?

    That's the last we will hear from the poster!:D
  • 02-17-2007, 07:12 PM
    indigo
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    No, it isn't the last time you'll hear from this poster! I don't know why she didn't go to the hospital. You would have to ask her ex-husband about that. She stayed at his house when she was out for those days. She may have been released to him because of his working at a juvenile correctional facility and the courts knowing him through his work. With her history of pain pill abuse, maybe he didn't believe her either. I don't know the reason why. By the way, 3 days is equal to 72 hours. I believe I said 36 hours which is equal to 1 1/2 days.
  • 02-17-2007, 09:18 PM
    deadlock
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    Quote:

    Quoting indigo
    View Post
    No, it isn't the last time you'll hear from this poster! I don't know why she didn't go to the hospital. You would have to ask her ex-husband about that. She stayed at his house when she was out for those days. She may have been released to him because of his working at a juvenile correctional facility and the courts knowing him through his work. With her history of pain pill abuse, maybe he didn't believe her either. I don't know the reason why. By the way, 3 days is equal to 72 hours. I believe I said 36 hours which is equal to 1 1/2 days.

    What is missing is an actual record of her fall. Without that she has nothing to verify the possibility that was the actual cause of the hip injury. This is not an uncommon incident in our prisons (obviously not a good thing) but they are not equipped nor staffed to handle medical follow-up everytime an incacerated person complains of a fall.

    You realize chains are used to encourage "behavior modification" in prisons? It's a good reason to avoid going to jail!
  • 02-18-2007, 05:19 AM
    jturner901
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    I think that is where her problem will ultimately lay. She had time when she was out to seek medical attention and for whatever reason, she failed to. That would have been the point that she could have had the injury documented and may have had a case against the police service, if they in fact contributed to her injury. Because of her failure to do so, she will probably not have any case.

    All the best!

    Jay
  • 02-18-2007, 01:50 PM
    indigo
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    Thank you, both, for being professional about the way you answered my posts. It is very much appreciated. Now that you have explained about the repercussions of NOT going to the hospital when she was released for the day and a half, I will be able to give her the explanation next time she calls me.

    When I first wrote a post on this board, I truely expected answers that would be beneficial to my queries. I did not expect to read answers that were meant to belittle, or demean, my intelligence. I may be ignorant when it comes to criminal law but ignorance can be overcome. So can nasty attitudes, if the people who have them choose to make themselves better.

    Thank you both again for your help.
  • 02-18-2007, 01:53 PM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    You got one sarcastic comment, in passing, from seniorjudge... and you carry on like this?
  • 02-18-2007, 02:44 PM
    deadlock
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    Quote:

    Quoting indigo
    View Post
    Thank you, both, for being professional about the way you answered my posts. It is very much appreciated. Now that you have explained about the repercussions of NOT going to the hospital when she was released for the day and a half, I will be able to give her the explanation next time she calls me.

    When I first wrote a post on this board, I truely expected answers that would be beneficial to my queries. I did not expect to read answers that were meant to belittle, or demean, my intelligence. I may be ignorant when it comes to criminal law but ignorance can be overcome. So can nasty attitudes, if the people who have them choose to make themselves better.

    Thank you both again for your help.

    To be honest, I didn't tell you anything different than was stated by Mr.K. I appreciate you thanking me for my response. However, Senior Judge's response stings because it is true. I am not trying to defend the response, because SJ doesn't need me to do that. The responsibility for taking care of ourselves is OURS. That is the truth and if your friend was addicted to pain meds there was nothing more important to her than getting more of the substance. It is horrible to love someone and care about them more than they care about themselves (addressing addicts).

    The best response to her question to you about wanting to sue the state for poor follow-up to her complaint is "why didn't you care enough to take care of yourself?"

    Her hip pain will do nothing but get worse with age and will always remind her of how she treated herself. It's tough love. I'm not great at it either.;)
  • 02-18-2007, 08:24 PM
    indigo
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    I posted my comment because of the insinuation that I would not post anymore due to questioning my friends not going to the hospital when she was out of jail for the time she was out. I can take sarcasm, I can be very sarcastic myself at times. In my line of work, we use sarcasm and humor to get through the 8 hours. What I have a difficult time dealing with is if I feel like someone thinks they have put me in a position to not be able to say anything more. Like they have gotten one over on me and I have been put in my place. If that was not the intention, then I do apologize for "carrying on."

    Indigo
  • 02-19-2007, 07:06 AM
    seniorjudge
    Re: Injury Untreated While In Jail
    No apologies necessary.

    I was hasty in my response!:(
  • 02-21-2007, 08:34 PM
    indigo
    New Information for Untreated in Jail
    My friend sent me a letter she has been sending to attorneys telling them what happened to her in jail. This has more information in it than I originally had. Will this information make any difference. Here it is:

    On the 13th of December, a female was brought into the jail and booked after midnight. two of the inmates went to a female deputy and told her this woman had drugs on her. She went into my friends cell by mistake. My friend was asleep on the top bunk. The deputy grabbed the bottom of her shirt and the back of her pants and yanked her off the top bunk. She hit the wall and fell into the stainless steel sink. My friend said it happened so fast she didn't have any time to react and remembers the other inmates yelling that isn't her, you've got the wrong one. Finally the deputy looked at her and said, "Oh, you're not her" and left the cell. No incident report was filed and no medical treatment was offered. The next morning when the shift changed my friend couldn't move to get out of bed and the deputy told her if she didn't get out of bed on her own, she would get her out. When my friend didn't get out of bed 3 female deputies got her off of the bunk and put her in a chair. She requested medical treatment and the officer told her she was fine. Twenty days later a doctor came in, looked at the bruising on her back, ribs, and hip, prescribed some meds and left. She had a large knot on her hip and an indentation beside it. The medicine that was given to her had a different name on it from her own and in addition to the prescribed meds, the night officer was giving her 12 benedryl a night so she would sleep without having the pain keep her awake. Finally she was moved to the state facility where they told her she would need an orthopedic surgeon to look at her but didn't set up any appointments for her to be checked.

    Apparently she was seen by a doctor but because she was injured by an officer, he wouldn't have her sent for x-ray. She says she has the names and phone numbers of the women who saw what happened to her and they said they will testify on her behalf. The problem is she can't find an attorney to take the case.

    Now, like myself, you have the whole story. Can anything be done, or is it the same as before, because she didn't get treated in the time she was out, she doesn't have a leg to stand on?

    Indigo
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