A country is judged on how it handles its elderly, sick and incarcerated. Sadly, we are failing in a big way. Once a society gives up on the less fortunate, It ceases to be a civilized society.
As a man who understands the prison health care system and how it works, I can tell you from experience that most of the companies that provide prison health care are a farce. Here is the definition of farce:
Absurd situation: a ridiculous situation in which everything goes wrong or becomes a sham
The lack of prison health care is an issue that affects the whole country. 95% of all inmates eventually get out of jail or prison. The problems they bring back to society can be serious. Do they have a disease that can be transmitted to someone else, are they mentally unstable and more of a danger to society then when they went in and what about the financial cost to society when a problem that could have been taken care of at an early stage was ignored and not taken care of? Prison Health Care companies are a business and their bottom line is what they care about.
Here is a solution, As a prison consultant and a man who understands the prison system and what is fluff and what is real, I would go into prisons and rate the health care provider. I would give an unbiased report to the county, state, or federal government who contracts the medical services out. Until we get a handle on prison health care providers and how we evaluate them, they will write off prison deaths as a part of doing business.
Larry Lawton , President of Lawton911 and the Reality Check Program DVD .
Read the article below that came out in the South Florida Sun Sentinel
By WAYNE K. ROUSTAN
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A 55-year-old Palm Beach County jail inmate had three seizures before dying in custody on Friday, according to Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Teri Barbera.
Linda Cafarelli, of Lake Worth, had been in jail since Aug. 11 on a domestic battery charge, according to the jail’s booking records. Records also showed Cafarelli was “released” from the jail at 4 a.m. and was listed as “deceased” on Friday. But a Saturday account of the events from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office indicates Cafarelli suffered the first seizure approximately 5 a.m. and was taken to the jail infirmary.
About 15 minutes later, Cafarelli suffered a second seizure while in the infirmary and paramedics were called but she suffered a third seizure on the way to Wellington Regional Medical Center and became unresponsive, the report stated. A short time after Cafarelli’s arrival in the emergency room she was pronounced dead, with the initial diagnosis being cardiac arrest, according to the Sheriff’s Office update.
An autopsy was performed Saturday and the cause of death was withheld pending toxicology test results expected in a few weeks. There are no suspicions of foul play, Barbera said. The Cafarelli family disagrees. Christine Cafarelli said the jail is responsible for her sister’s death. “It’s unacceptable,” she said. “There are no words to explain this.” She suspects Linda Cafarelli did not get the medications she required for several health problems during her eight days in jail, and that triggered the seizures that lead to her death.
“About 10 medications she was taking, all prescribed by physicians,” Christine Cafarelli said. “They were all narcotics and they stopped her cold turkey.” Linda Cafarelli had been in jail before, but on two occasions she was released because of her seizures, with one requiring transport to a hospital, according to the Cafarelli family. Christine Cafarelli said the jail and nurses there were “well aware” of her sister’s medication needs.
Now their mother, Anne Cafarelli, 80, has health problems. “She has been going through some sort of breakdown, beyond crying, because she feels (her daughter’s death) was very wrongful,” Christine Cafarelli said. The Cafarelli family is awaiting an explanation from sheriff’s investigators and has retained an attorney.