Honestwitness,

I would contact the head DOC medical department in the state---the DOC Medical Director---, the warden, the chaplain, and the ombudsman in that order.

In some of these medical situations, going straight to the top---to the DOC Medical Director----gets better results than dealing with the medical department within the prison.

I would tell him you are his MOTHER and that you are extremely concerned for his health. Not his wife or his GF, but his mother. In my experience, the mother can usually get a better response than a wife or a GF.

If they ran the proper tests and they came back negative, they probably will not send him to a hospital----not with just an elevated BP. The physician inmate is correct; in a normal medical setting, more tests would be needed. But this is prison and unfortunately, medical care in prison is shoddy at best.

When you call them, document everything----when his symptoms began, when he went to medical, what was the result, that he asked to be sent to an outside hospital, who you talked to and when you spoke to them, what they said, etc. Let them know you are concerned.

You said, " I told him I would call and ask to speak to the nurse to find out what's going on and let her know I'm not going to leave them alone, until I know my son is being properly cared for."

Letting them know that you will be watching this situation closely and that you will not stop calling until he is given treatment is probably the best thing you can do at this time. Prison officials are not as likely to just disregard an inmate's medical needs if they know they have a caring family monitoring the situation.

Prisons do not care much for inmates, but they hate civil suits for medical negligence.

Continue calling as his mother until this is resolved.

rewdiazepam

Thanks, Rew. I called the prison again just now. They won't tell me anything. The supervisor is the only one who could tell me anything and she's out until Monday. Also, she won't tell me anything unless my son givrs written consent to discuss his case with me. ***grrr***

It's now 9:30 pm on Saturday night and, of course, tomorrow is Sunday. Would the DOC medical director, the warden, or the chaplain even answer their phones on the eeekend, if I could find their numbers?

Honestwitness,

The prison will not disclose any of your son's medical information unless he signs a waiver for them to do so.

It would be interesting to see the diagnosis if all the tests were negative except an elevated BP. Did they tell your son the medical diagnosis or just send him back to the cell without any explanation? Did they issue him any meds or treat him at all?

I doubt that you will be able to contact anyone over the weekend, but I would certainly keep trying.

Sometimes the chaplain of a prison has an emergency number; I know they did at one of the prisons I was at. I would try that. You might possibly be able to contact the chaplain on Sunday.

You could contact the Chief of Security, a Captain, or a Lt. at the guard shack and tell them this is an emergency. There will be somebody there on a Sunday for sure. They will probably slow play you and tell you it is up to medical, but you could explain that you have been unable to reach medical.

If you can give me the state, I will be glad to help.

This is one of those situations in which you son has to decide what action to take. If he feels as if this is a medical emergency and his life may be in jeopardy, he could go to medical and just refuse to leave until they decided to do something. He may receive misconduct if he refuses to return to this cell, especially during count time. But a misconduct is better than a health crisis.

But going to medical and not leaving with certainly get their attention.

If I remember, your sons are in medium security prisons, so I doubt that a misconduct would send them to a higher security.

rewdiazepam

Yes, they are in mediums. The one with the medical crisis is in Colorado. Thanks for your detailed explanations of everything. I can't imagine how I would get through all this without your help. You are a true gem!

I will be up late tonight. Let me see what I can find for you.

rewdiazepam

Let's try this first-----

Send this lady an email and explain the situation.

cheryl.smith@doc.state.co.us

Cheryl was mentioned as a contact on another forum.

I am looking for more contacts for you.

rewdiazepam

Send an email to Dianne at Cure. Here is the email address. Explain the situation----

dianne@ColoradoCURE.org

Explain the situation.

I think she has email addresses for the Director of the Colorado DOC, and the Assistant Directors of DOC.

You may want to try calling the "shift commander" and ask that he/she intervene & call medical on your son's behalf.

Let me know how this works out. I am concerned.

rewdiazepam

Thanks again, Rew. Thankfully, my son just called me. He went back to the medical department a third time. This time, he was seen by the night nurse, who was a whole lot more thorough. They did 4 EKGs and more blood tests. This time they found some abnormalities, so they said they would "try" to get him to see the prison doctor on Monday. My son said the only way they would send him to a hospital, is if he goes unconscious. Such is prison life.

He said his symptoms have lessened, for the time being, thank goodness.

I will give more detail tomorrow, when I'm back at my computer. This smartphone keyboard is so painstakingly slow. I'm going to get some sleep now and I hope you can do the same.

Here's my detailed recollection of my son's call last night.

=====

05/21/2016, 11:56 p.m., Saturday – My son called me, THANK GOODNESS!!! He told me he had gone back to the medical department for a third time and was seen by the night-shift nurse. This nurse was much more thorough with him. This nurse called the doctor, who ordered further testing. The nurse gave my son four EKGs and further blood tests. Two of the EKGs were normal, but two were abnormal. Some of the blood tests were normal, but some were abnormal. My son wasn’t able to give me specifics, but he did mention something about a high liver count. He said this was not considered alarming by the nurse.

The nurse kept my son in the medical department for five hours, until the results of the tests were received. The tests related to the heart were normal, so they let him go back to his cell. The nurse told my son she would “try” to get him in to see the doctor on Monday.

I told my son I was surprised he was calling me so late at night. He said that Fridays and Saturdays, the inmates are given “late nights,” which means they can be out of their cells beyond the normal 9 pm lock down.

I told my son I had shared his situation with family members via email. He said he very much appreciated all the thoughts and prayers. He said he had started feeling better around 4 or 5 pm, but was still light headed. When he started feeling better, he thought to himself that someone must be praying for him.

My son said even other inmates had been showing a lot of concern and some had told him they were praying for him, as well. While he was in the medical department for five hours, quite a few fellow inmates had asked his “cellie” and the officer in his unit for any news of my son’s condition.

I asked my son to please get the form signed so the nurse would discuss his case with me. He said the form has to be notarized and the person who does that is the librarian, whose days off are Sunday and Monday. So, he promised he will start the process, but won’t be able to get it completed until at least Tuesday.

My son said that, for the past two years, he has been having fleeting episodes of dizziness and light headedness. He says they come and go in a split second. He thought this might possibly indicate he was diabetic, as I had told him it could be genetic. I had told him he should watch for the possibility in himself, since I have diabetes. However, he said his blood glucose test was normal.

My son said all those past episodes were very mild, when compared with the symptoms of the last three days, which were very severe and very alarming. This is the first time he has had the heart pounding, the shortness of breath, the tightness in the chest and neck, the nausea, and the sense of dread.

My son’s doctor/inmate friend still believes my son should be taken to a hospital and given more extensive testing, because it sounds like part of his heart muscle is not getting enough oxygen, even though today’s tests had shown his blood oxygen was at 100 percent.

I asked my son what was meant by the nurses “trying” to let him see the doctor on Monday. My son said nothing is ever guaranteed in prison. They could fire the doctor before then, which is exactly what did happen during a previous, unrelated medical incident of my son’s.

I asked my son for the name of the day-shift nurse, but he didn’t know it. He said everybody calls her “Elvira,” because she has pitch black hair, wears tons of black eye liner, and has very pasty-white skin. He said the look on her face is one of total apathy about whether he lives or dies. He even said there is a very faint look of wickedness on her face and she definitely treats him as if she couldn’t care less if he were to die.

My son says the other inmates and even the guards know this nurse is just evil and asked him why he went to see her. He said he wasn’t able to change the timing of his symptoms, so he had to take what he could get at the time.

My son said he will call me again tomorrow to give me an update. I told him I definitely want him to do that. So, we said good night and got some sleep.

=====

Thanks to Rew for digging up information that will enable me to do some intensive follow up. I plan to make some calls and send emails today.

Thanks to anyone else who has been thinking about or praying for my son.

Honest,
Do you have any update about your son? How is he feeling? Have ya'll gotten some answers that you need?

Also, don't be afraid to mention that denying your son adequate and appropriate medical care is a violation of the 8th Amendment to the US constitution.....it's a violation to subject anybody to cruel and unusual punishment. Denial of medical care is cruel and unusual punishment.

I will keep your son in my prayers. God Bless.

HonestWitness,

I just sent you a PM.

rewdiazepam

Thanks for your prayers, mymanswoman. I really appreciate them.

The nurse told my son she would "try" to let him see the doctor on Monday (yesterday). My son said he would call me after he has seen the doctor and that if he didn't call, it meant he hasn't seen the doctor.

Well, he hasn't called. If I call the prison again, they won't tell me anything, because my son has to sign the form that gives them permission to discuss his case with me. Also, the form has to be notarized and the only person in the entire prison who is a notary is the librarian and she's off on Sunday and Monday. So, I would be very surprised if my son was actually able to get that done today, because of how slowly everything moves in prison.

Maybe they did take him to a hospital. If so, I don't know whether he would be allowed to call me from the hospital. So, I'm trying to distract myself with other things, while I wait for him to call me.

*sigh*

OK. So I just called the prison again. It's 7:00 pm there. I was told by an officer that the only person I can speak to is the medical department supervisor and, to do that, I have to call back during daytime hours. So, I then asked whether they could tell me whether my son was able to the permission form notarized and submitted today. She said she would call down to the captain and "see if we can get that started." *sheesh*

Dealing with prisons is SO FRUSTRATING!!!

My son called me today, FINALLY! He still has not seen the doctor and isn't even on the schedule for tomorrow. GRRR!!! However, at least he is feeling better for now. He still has the light headed feeling quite a bit of the time, but he says it's nothing like it was this past Saturday.

He also said the tests the nurse did on Saturday indicated that he did NOT have a heart attack. So, it must be something else. I guess there's some comfort in that.

I reminded him how important it is to get that permission form signed and notarized so the medical department will talk to me, when I'm wondering what's going on and he hasn't called me for several days. He promised me he would do that today. He says it's really unpleasant to do what he has to do to get it done, though. I told him I understand, but it's also pretty unpleasant for me to go for days without any word on how he's doing. So, he promised he will do it today.

I would love to call a bunch of prison officials and rant about the shoddy care he's been receiving. However, until he gets that form submitted, I know I'd just be considered a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. I don't want to make the staff despise my son, because his mommy keeps bugging them. My son said guys get transferred to other prisons if their family members become too much of a nuisance. So...it's a fine line!

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and prayers. I really, REALLY appreciate all of you!

This is absurd!!! Do you think contacting the ACLU might help? This is a blatant violation of his basic human rights!