# Miami Juvenile Jail Official Told Dying Teen To 'Suck It Up' **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 27, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514 "2004-02-27T20:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/1 "2004-02-27T20:06:58Z")
[http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/C36660/](http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/C36660/) This just tears me up. I hope some serious heads roll for this one. ---
**Author:** ![LVgeogeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b19c9b/32.png) [@LVgeogeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVgeogeek)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/2 "2004-02-27T20:17:33Z")
that is so tragic that those people in the jail just let him die because they “didn’t want to drag it home to thier kids” Obviously that nurse is not qualified to be a nurse when they refuse medical help to someone in need, regardles of the situation. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/3 "2004-02-27T20:23:53Z")
Fuckers. That account made me tear up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/4 "2004-02-27T20:34:33Z")
I’ve never read a story that made me want go out and kick someone’s ass so much. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/5 "2004-02-27T20:34:54Z")
This really, really sucks. What a horrible betrayal to commit a 17-year old boy to this system and then tell him to “suck it up” has he dies a slow, painful death from a treatable condition. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/6 "2004-02-27T20:35:18Z")
The behavior of that nurse was even worse than the guards. What a callous, incompetent bitch. I hope she goes to prison. :mad: The guards should have called an ambulance, regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Triss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Triss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triss)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/7 "2004-02-27T20:41:43Z")
Christ. I hope that bitch will be facing manslaughter charges, at least. What a fucking world, eh? Imagine dying in agony and the last words you hear are “suck it up, kid.” Fuckers. Poor kid. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/8 "2004-02-27T20:58:35Z")
Wow, what an unbelievably hateful set of characters. I was in that kid’s situation myself a week ago, and I couldn’t imagine being in that much pain and going untreated. What a horrible way to die. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/9 "2004-02-27T21:10:18Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > The behavior of that nurse was even worse than the guards. What a callous, incompetent bitch. I hope she goes to prison. :mad: > > The guards should have called an ambulance, regardless. After reading the story, I have to say the guards are about the only ones who come out of this sickening horror with any credit. They repeatedly tried to get their supervisor and the nurses to help the kid, despite being rebuffed. It may well be that they didn’t have the authority to call an ambulance ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/10 "2004-02-27T21:57:24Z")
That nurse is in the wrong profession. I hope she loses her license. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/11 "2004-02-27T22:03:22Z")
> [@Triss](#): > > What a fucking world, eh? Imagine dying in agony and the last words you hear are “suck it up, kid.” Fuckers. Actually, according to that link, the last words he heard may have been “Let his ass go back in the room.” Fuckers, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/12 "2004-02-27T22:06:11Z")
> [@sugaree](#): > > That nurse is in the wrong profession. I hope she loses her license. Her license? How about her freedom? I hope the next time she needs medical care, it’s from behind the bars of a cell. And I hope whoever treats her is a better human than she is. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/13 "2004-02-27T22:08:07Z")
Third degree murder charges seem about right. I just read a book about the horrors of a Victorian mental institution, and was thinking how barbaric they were back then. Holy shit. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Gomez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Gomez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomez)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/14 "2004-02-28T00:45:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I hope the next time she needs medical care, it’s from behind the bars of a cell. And I hope whoever treats her is a better human than she is. Call me vindictive but…I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/15 "2004-02-28T00:51:02Z")
Just sickening… And from a fucking medical “professional”. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/16 "2004-02-28T02:13:58Z")
I read the thread before the links. I was thinking to myself, “Wow, this thread seems unanimous in knee-jerk hatred and revulsion. I wonder if there might be another side to it.” That’s the kind of person I am—I’m usually trying to see the other side, even (especially) when there doesn’t seem to be one. No way. Not this time. I read and code radiology reports for a billing office, and it is rare, rare indeed when symptoms of abdomen pain and an abdomen X-ray aren’t followed up by the radiologist with some notes about the appendix and whether it can be properly visualized. I see for myself how often doctors consider appendicitis as a possible etiology for abdomen pain. Holy shit, why didn’t this nurse consider the possibility that the kid had appendicitis? I can understand that a nurse working in a jail would get a bit cynical about prisoners playing possum, but god **damn** she still has a job to do. I am almost speechless. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/17 "2004-02-28T02:40:15Z")
The whole thing saddens me. In our prison system we send out many, many people to the ER to get further evaluation. I’ve taken report over the phone on inmates like this from the nurse on duty, and directed them to send the patient out. There’s no way to tell viral gastritis from appendicitis without clinical evaluation, of which this kid did not get. I don’t understand why he wasn’t sent out. Sad, really. Unprofessional at best, and very possibly criminal. On a related note: I have a patient who’s been in segregation for bad behavior. He’s a whiner, but with real medical problems. He’d had abdominal surgery not long back for a real problem, and complained continously afterwards about pain and problems, and went to the ER half a dozen times, with nothing worse than constipation being found. We got so that we anticipated hearing from him daily, and having to tell him firmly to stop bitching. **BUT** we told him to stop bitching _only_ after examining him. So the last time I saw him for his complaints, I thought it odd his pulse was racing at 150 beats a minute, rather than his well-documented 80 per minute every other time we’d seen him. Off to the hospital again, but this time for major abdominal surgery. Hypochondriacs, liars, and even felons do get sick! There is no substitute for a good history and physical exam, even if you’ve done it a dozen times before on the same guy without finding anything. ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/18 "2004-02-28T04:54:49Z")
Maybe I’m the only one who’s seeing the oddity here, but a prisoner who was in for a sentence of unstated length for attacking his neighbor suddenly gets ‘ill’ on the FIRST day he’s there? I’m sorry, but I have no sympathy for this kid. His family, yea, seeing as any death in any family is a personal tragedy, but here’s a thought for all you people calling for the heads of those who allowed this kid to die… Where was he and why was he there? He was in a jail for attacking his neighbor. He was in JAIL for ATTACKING HIS NEIGHBOR. Oh, let me repeat that just once more, so there is NO question. **HE WAS IN JAIL FOR ATTACKING HIS NEIGHBOR.** _sighs_ Ok, now, let’s move on. A ruptured appendix, from what I remember on my first-responders class can lead to death in 12-24 hours if surgery is no performed to clean out the lower bowels. What you have here is a punk kid, a criminal, who’s been in a jail for (if the timeline provided within the story is accurate) under 48 hours. Now, tell me, at what point did he suddenly feel ‘real bad?’ From what I remember from my first-responders class, an inflammed pre-rupture appendix is supposed to rate somewhere between “stabbed in the gut” painful and “stabbed in the gut with a rusty knife” painful. If he was able to simply state that “My stomach (hits buzzer, sorry bub, wrong body part!) hurts real bad” then the staff physician ain’t going to look for appendicitis. If he’d said something like “I’ve got a sharp pain below my stomach” then he might have gotten a bit more attention. As far as symptoms, puking, shitting, and sweating were all symptoms of MY last bout with influenza, so if this guy is doing it, I doubt that anyone’s gonna take a second look. Finally, for those of you who are calling for the head of the nurse who “didn’t want to take that shit home to her kids,” lets ask what type of nurse was she? Was she a nurse-practicioner? Was she a registered nurse? Was she an LPN? No, the article doesn’t say. She may or may not have been qualified to do something. How well stocked was the clinic in this punk’s jail? Again, the article doesn’t say. You don’t know that she could have done anything even if she was inclined to do so. What it does say is that she (the nurse) did come, did examine him (however briefly,) concluded that (in combination with the doctor’s previous assessment that it was a stomach virus) “Ain’t nothing wrong with his ass” and then proceeded to file the paperwork to get him transferred to a hospital. Ladies and gentelmen, the folks in the jail did their job. If that kid wasn’t a criminal, then maybe he’d be alive today. Isn’t this what the same ones of you in the ‘dumbass driver, silly car-wreck’ type threads refer to as karma? You know, he fucked up, and it came around and bit him in the ass? ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/19 "2004-02-28T05:11:09Z")
Of course, I’d expect a post like that from you, **fushj00mang** , but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn’t read **Qadgop** ’s well-informed post when he said; > [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > There’s no way to tell viral gastritis from appendicitis without clinical evaluation, of which this kid did not get. I don’t understand why he wasn’t sent out. > > Sad, really. Unprofessional at best, and very possibly criminal. > \ > We got so that we anticipated hearing from [a problem prisoner] daily, and having to tell him firmly to stop bitching. > > **BUT** we told him to stop bitching _only_ after examining him. > > Hypochondriacs, liars, and even felons do get sick! But, according to fushj00mang, if a felon gets sick, no one should care. After all, it’s just some black punk in jail, and they’re worth less than the free population, right? ---
**Author:** ![Triss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Triss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triss)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2004, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514/20 "2004-02-28T05:27:09Z")
Wow, **fushj00mang**. If it hadn’t been for you coming in here and setting us all straight, we might have continued to have an ounce of human compassion for this disgusting criminal’s well-deserved miserable excrutiating death! Hell, we should have just gone into that jail and ripped his guts out ourselves! Yeah! All we need to know is that he was in JAIL! So therefore he must be THE DEVIL! :smack: WTF were we thinking? Heaven forbid that we should expect the nurse to have actually done anything for this vile creature! Because obviously, as you figured out using your razor-sharp genius, she should only have done something if she were a _certain kind_ of nurse! D’UH!!! You know, **QtM’s** post almost had me convinced that there are medical procedures to follow regardless of the circumstances. Hoo boy, that **Quagdop** , he’s a sly one, ain’t he? But YOU have saved the day with your half-remembered knowledge from your first responder’s class! Woo-hoo! You are stamping out ignorance all over the place with your bad self! You are TOO SMART for us, dude! We’re not worthy! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miami-juvenile-jail-official-told-dying-teen-to-suck-it-up/231514.md?page=2)