Black woman dies of thirst after she was dragged out of SC hospital to jail over unpaid court fines

[farleftlib]

55. There are several problems at work here

First of all, hospitals should never be encouraged or even allowed to assist law enforcement officials as part of their job. I've heard about cops being called if a pregnant woman has drugs in her system, sometimes when she was in labor. She gives birth in shackles and gets dragged to jail. Kid goes who knows where. Not cool.

But I've also learned that these new for-profit prisons don't have medical staff present at all times. Doctors have to be called in by non-medical personnel and they don't always come.

There was a case in Philly years ago where a guy in custody kept puking and screaming for a doctor and the staff wouldn't call one because they said he was dope-sick. It turns out he was a diabetic and he died because the doctor refused to come examine him due to the dismissive way the guards were talking about the guy. Went into diabetic shock and died.

The family sued and won. Guess what they did. They fired that particular doctor but the process remained in place where a doctor was on call but could refuse to come based on the report.

I have the distinct feeling in this case, they'll maybe have to pay the family some money, maybe not, but *nothing* will change.