Nashville jail inmate Glen Lee uses a walker; he’s constantly groggy, weak, uncomfortable, after having walked in without assistance after his November arrest on theft and assault charges, says The Tennessean. What happened to Lee during the past three months is the subject of a review by the Department of Public Health, aimed at determining whether systemic problems are denying diabetic prisoners the medical care they need. Officials said Lee has received appropriate medical treatment. Lee told the Tennessean that missteps by jail medical staff left him in a diabetic coma and hospitalized for three weeks.
Lee’s case is the third in recent months in which a diabetic inmate or his relatives have alleged that jail staff failed to treat their disease properly. Last week, The New York Times published a series detailing widespread problems with the care provided to prisoners in New York by Prison Health Services, the country’s largest provider of health services for prisons and jails. Prison Health Services is in its final year of a five-year contract with the Nashville jail.
Link: http://www.tennessean.com/government/archives/05/01/66526819.shtml?Element_ID=66526819