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| 2 inmates allege county ignored medical requests |
| By Chicago Tribune |
| Published: 05/31/2004 |
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A woman with diabetes who was locked up in Cook County (Ill.) Jail was refused insulin medication, lapsed into a coma and suffered extensive brain damage, a federal lawsuit alleged last Friday. A separate lawsuit, also filed last Friday in U.S. District Court, charged that another Cook County Jail inmate died of meningitis after repeated requests for medical attention went unheeded. The two lawsuits seek a combined $14 million in damages. Spokesmen for Sheriff Michael Sheahan, whose responsibilities include the jail, couldn't be reached for comment. The woman with diabetes, Marie Pico, 37, has been unable to recount most details of her alleged ordeal because of the brain damage, said her attorney, Ronald Fishman, but it is believed she was a passenger in a car stopped by Chicago police Jan. 2. Officers apparently found a warrant outstanding for Pico for driving under the influence, arrested her and took her to the County Jail, Fishman said. Pico told correctional officers she had diabetes and needed insulin, but no medication was provided and she suffered a diabetic coma that lasted 16 days, the lawsuit said. As a result of the brain damage, Pico has difficulty communicating and walking and is unable to care for herself, Fishman said. She is now living with a sister in Berwyn, he said. Pico's $10 million lawsuit names Cook County, the Cook County Board and the county's Department of Corrections as defendants. The second lawsuit charges that Chicago police arrested Norman L. Smith Jr., 32, April 23 on false drug-possession charges while he sat on a friend's porch. Smith was in good health at the time of his arrest, but by April 26, he was feeling quite ill, the lawsuit said. As his condition worsened day by day, Smith's repeated requests for medical help went ignored, the lawsuit said. He was found dead in his cell on April 30, according to the lawsuit. He died of meningitis, "a condition which would have been readily treatable had he been afforded reasonable medical treatment," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit against the Cook County sheriff and unknown deputies seeks $4 million in damages. |
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