Sick in Secret- The Hidden World of Prison Health Care
FYI article on prison health care in Texas.
Hint - don’t get sick in a Texas prison.
without reading the link, but speaking as someone who worked in juvenhile rehab group homes and prisons, I can tell you one thing that is a truth - the REALLY sick don’t go for help unless it’s gotten really serious, as sickness is a sign of weakness. I had a kid who we had to airlift to a hospital because he had been bleeding internally (in his stomach) and wouldn’t come to us, even after he had thrown up blood in the shower, and staff found the blood. We asked EVERY kid - in private if they did it, or knew who did it, and they all said NO. We probably wouldn’t have caught him in time if he hadn’t walked up to the office two hours later to ask for an envelope, and passed out.
Better hint: Don’t be a dumbass and do a crime in Texas and get sent to prison! (or anywhere else, for that matter!)
I only read a little of the link, but I say “screw em’!”. Shouldn’t have done the crime if you want top-notch health care. You got yourself in there, now rot! Better yet, keel over and save the taxpayers a bunch of money.
I have very little sympathy for criminals. Sorry, but I’m a just a jerk that way.
Keep your eye on the sparrow
Uh…calling Qadgop - Qadgop the Mercotan!!
If anybody should comment on this, it would the him - he is a physician working within the prison system…
and gato, while I understand your contempt for criminals, this doesn’t strike me as that strictly black and white…
You might say that. Sorry, but they were sentenced to be confined for a certain period of time, not to be permitted to slowly bleed to death internally. Much as this might offend some barbaric notion of revenge, some of us prefer to require that the justice system be civilized.
You’re right, Gato- screw 'em! Hell, let’s not waste time hoping they’ll get sick- let’s sieze the initiative and MAKE 'em get sick!
Maybe some ebola virus in their food? That’s nice and torturous, with the added benefit of killing off about 90% of the prison population within ten days of exposure. That’d certainly ease the tax burden on the rest of us moral, law-abiding citizenry!
:rolleyes:
Gato, you gotta remember that some of those “evil criminals” are rotting in jail due to some ass-stupid sentencing laws. They didn’t do anything much worse than some of the people whose posts you read here regularly–it’s just that we didn’t get caught.
And some of them were wrongfully convicted.
All of them are human.
Well, I read all the links.
Some of the people in question died after lying in their own feces, urine, menstrual blood for days. One man was starved to death in the infermery. One man was left to die from dehydration in his cell. The crimes committed by these people included things like cheque fraud.
I’m sorry, but leaving someone to die a horrible, miserable death becasue they passed a few bad cheques is NOT cool.
Health care inside is quite the issue and will continue to grow as a problem as the average age of the prisoners continue to grow.
(and an ‘Amen’ to Cranky - plus, keep in mind that nearly every single person inside will be outside at some point. For me, personally, I’d much rather deal w/them if they’ve been treated humanely, vs. tortured, but then, I"m just a crazy ass liberal)
Unless “death by slow torture” is part of their sentence[sup]*[/sup], there is no ethical or legal reason to not supply these inmates with reasonable and humane care, consistant with security and safety.
[sup]*[/sup]It’s not.
I thought this was particularly mortifying.
Wow, astro. That’s disgusting, that people would do that. Especially the syphilis thing- when there’s a cure. What kind of person can watch someone suffer knowing they could alleviate that? Sick sick sick.
My brother was in prison for awhile (in CA)and was bitten by a spider. His leg blew up to twice it’s normal size and then parts of his skin began to sort of suck itself in and become deformed. The doctors told him it was nothing to worry about and did nothing for him. It took about a year for the swelling to completely disappear, but he still has a horrible scar and his leg does not look normal. What if he was bitten by a deadly spider? I don’t suppose they know the difference.
I’ll have to peruse this link this weekend.
QtM
As someone who has more knowledge of prisons than most, I’d second the advice from the OP: don’t get sick in a prison (in Texas or anywhere else).
As with so many other problems, it’s a money issue. Creating and running a top quality health care system for tens of thousands of people who tend to have more serious health problems than average would be a very expensive task. The public has shown no interest in financing such a system. So we work with what we have.
gato already said it:
Hint - don’t get in a Texas prison.
So my idea of committing a crime in order to go to jail and have free healthcare, is a bad one?
I have been unable to read the link so maybe they answered this and if they did I apologize.
How come inmates don’t sue for damages because of cruel and unusual punishment? That’s not exactly a problem you would want to have around.
And astro that quote is warped. Especially the part about the inmates being cheaper than chimpanzees. shudders
Don’t get sick in a Texas prison? Jesus don’t get sick in ANY prison.
Yikes.
Sanscour
Well, in our prison if you have Hepatitis C and meet the clinical criteria, you get Rebetron therapy along with all supportive care courtesy of the state. That’s worth over $15,000 a year. But you have to be sentenced to at least 2 years to get it, as it’s a long treatment, requiring many tests and procedures, and follow-up visits.
I’ve had inmates come back after a brief imprisonment, and excitedly tell me that now they had a 4 year sentence, so would I please arrange for them to have their Hep C treated.
The prison population is the only US citizenry that by legislative act has a right to government-funded health care. (The military’s health care system is not created by legislation). In my state, we docs in the Corrections system are employees of the state, and are mandated by said state to deliver health care that meets community standards. That means the community at large, not the prison community.
Of course, as a result of this, our budget is soaring out of sight, and the populace is screaming at us to spend less money on prisoners. And prisoners here can and do sue and win. Mostly they lose, but not always.