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| Inmate medical bill may cost thousands |
| By The Journal-Register |
| Published: 07/03/2006 |
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SANGAMON, IL - Sangamon County officials are bracing themselves for a potentially large medical bill after a jail inmate had surgery to remove an infected abscess in his neck. The county doesn't know how much the final bill might be, but the cost of post-operative antibiotics alone could be more than $15,000 if the county doesn't get a special rate. "The final bill is going to be tens of thousands of dollars," Sangamon County Sheriff Neil Williamson said. "The good news is that we negotiate our hospital bills and get the public aid rate. That means we pay about 10 cents on the dollar. If the bill is theoretically $100,000, for example, we would be billed about $10,000." Due to medical privacy laws, county officials would not release the name of the inmate, who is in custody on a charge of aggravated sexual assault. The sheriff's office typically releases information on criminal charges and even provides pictures of inmates, but medical information is different. "We are following the law (by not releasing the inmate's name in this case)," Williamson said. "We don't want to expose the county to any liability." Terry Durr, superintendent of the Sangamon County Jail, said the abscess was on the inmate's spinal column. Once the problem was noticed around the beginning of this month, the inmate was taken to the hospital, where he underwent surgery. Durr declined to say which hospital. The inmate returned to the jail this week. His care will continue there. "He has a port, a medical port, inserted in his neck where antibiotics can be administered," Williamson said. "He has to be given antibiotics every eight hours. On top of that, we have to contract with a physical therapist because he lost his motor skills and has to learn how to walk again. Who knows how long that will take?" County board members on the board's finance committee were briefed on the pending medical bills this week. Board member Andy Goleman, chairman of the finance committee, said the county has no choice but to pay the bills. "The bottom line is we have to provide medical care," Goleman said. "That's the law ... The judicial system has to run its course, and until it does, we are stuck with him." The man is set for trial in July. The county has a general contingency fund for unexpected costs. Officials budgeted about $147,000 for fiscal year 2006, and so far, only about $2,000 has been spent. The county's fiscal year ends Nov. 30. The infection that caused the inmate's illness technically is a staph infection, but it is different from staph infections the jail has dealt with in the past, Durr said. Previous staph infections have appeared externally on people's skin, not under the skin, as in this case. |
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