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| MDOC official defends quality of medical treatment for prisoners |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/28/2005 |
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Inmates who become sick in Mississippi's prisons receive adequate medical attention, a state health official said last Thursday. Eight inmates have died in Mississippi's prisons since the beginning of the year, but Dr. Kentrell Liddell, medical director for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, said last Thursday that a review found the deaths were unrelated. "If something were wrong, I wouldn't be sitting here - I would be over at the facility,'' said Liddell. "We are 100 percent serious about providing quality and timely medical care to all of our inmates,'' Liddell said. "Whenever we fall - or I think that we are falling in that area - I investigate personally.'' There were concerns earlier this month after three deaths were reported at the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville and several inmates from the facility were hospitalized for tests. Officials said there was no connection between any of the deaths and those tested did not have a serious health problem. New concerns were raised recently by relatives of Dixie Kay Adams, a 50-year-old inmate from Carriere who was serving time at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. Adams died March 16 after developing bronchial pneumonia, officials said. Afterward, family members questioned whether Adams and other sick inmates received satisfactory medical care - and whether Adams' life could have been saved if medical help had been provided sooner. "Nobody seems to be giving us any answers,'' said Adams' sister-in-law, Connie Graziano of Carriere. But Liddell said a review indicates that the woman's illness was diagnosed accurately. The doctor who treated Adams submitted a mortality report to Liddell within 48 hours of her death, and the medical director then discussed the case with the physician and investigated other records, Liddell said. He said Adams was given antibiotics after complaining of upper respiratory symptoms days before she died. |
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