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| Lawsuit accuses prisons of inadequate care of diabetics |
| By The Birmingham News |
| Published: 04/22/2003 |
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The Southern Poverty Law Center has filed a federal court suit accusing Alabama prison officials of failing to provide adequate medical care to inmates with diabetes. 'Alabama prisoners with diabetes are at serious risk of substantial harm and death as a result of the grossly inadequate medical care provided to them by the Alabama Department of Corrections,' the complaint says. The suit, on behalf of six named inmates and others throughout the system who are suffering from diabetes, accuses Prison Commissioner Donal Campbell of 'deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of inmates with diabetes.' Such diabetic inmates suffer from vision problems, amputations of the toes, possible kidney damage and other maladies, and are at risk of blindness, amputations of feet and legs, kidney failure, nerve damage, pneumonia, strokes, heart attacks and death, the suit alleges. Brian Corbett, the prison system's information officer, said Campbell had no comment on the complaint. Campbell released several audit reports in February by medical consultants hired to evaluate health-care services in Alabama prisons. The reports listed numerous deficiencies in medical care, particularly for diabetics. Diabetes patients, the reports noted, get only monthly rather than daily blood sugar tests. 'This policy is contrary to community standards of care ...' the report said. It said there had been at least one death at the Limestone Correctional Facility during the last year from a condition caused by dehydration and lack of insulin. The lawsuit said the state fails to diagnose and provide adequate and timely care for injuries, infections and eye problems and fails to provide appropriate individualized meal plans for diabetics. The suit asks the federal court to declare that the system's alleged failure to provide adequate medical care to diabetic inmates violates their constitutional rights, and to order that the violations cease. |
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