State to pay in teen's death (Thanks Jeb Bush)

[saigon68]

Posted on Tue, Nov. 02, 2004




http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10074338.htm


DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE


State to pay in teen's death

A mother reached settlements with the state and a hospital over the death of her teenage son that rocked the Juvenile Justice Department.

By CAROL MARBIN MILLER

[e-mail]




State and hospital officials have agreed to pay the family of Omar Paisley more than $1 million for the youth's June 2003 death from a ruptured appendix at Miami's juvenile lockup, writing a final chapter in a case that shook the state's Department of Juvenile Justice. The DJJ, which operates the state's troubled 226-bed Miami lockup, agreed to pay Cherry Williams $1.45 million for the death of her teenage son, said her attorney, Lorenzo Williams.

`WAKE-UP CALL'

''This is a wake-up call for anybody taking care of somebody else,'' she said. ``You have somebody's life in your hands.'' Williams said she hopes state officials will take action to give life to the slogan they adopted shortly after her son's death rattled the agency: Treat every child as if he were your own

BEGGED FOR HELP

Detained at the lockup on a battery charge, 17-year-old Omar begged officers and nurses for medical help for three days before he finally succumbed June 9 to a ruptured appendix, a death the family's attorneys described as ``agonizing -- but entirely preventable.''For much of the next year, Omar's case came to symbolize a host of failings at Florida's youth corrections department. Medical care at the detention center long had been a source of concern among inspectors, who had documented the agency's failure to properly treat and screen detainees.


Two nurses, Gaile Loperfido and Dianne Demeritte, were charged with manslaughter and third-degree murder. The case is pending.

ON EDIT: Why go to Abu Ghraib---You just need to come to Amerika to see what the Repukes do to "Black People"

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Florida, Texas... Texas, Florida...

Funny how I confuse those two sometimes... :(

[amber dog democrat]

7. Florida is better

but not by much.

[Rainbowreflect]

2. That poor young man and his family.

I cannot imagine the agony he must have suffered.
This is so unbelievably disgusting.

[Judi Lynn]

3. This is inexcuseable. He was so YOUNG.

God only knows how hard he tried to get someone to help him. From an earlier article:;

The tragedy that drew critical attention from all directions was the death of 17-year-old Omar Paisley at the Miami-Dade County detention center last June.

Paisley, who was jailed for slashing a neighbor with a soda can, died of a burst appendix. For three days center workers ignored his pleas for medical attention, until a guard found him balled up on the floor, holding his stomach. His clothes and cell were covered in urine and diarrhea. By the time paramedics arrived, Paisley was dead.

His death spurred Barreiro to convene a select legislative committee to investigate all aspects of the juvenile justice department, which is responsible for about 9,000 juveniles. Hearings began late last year, and Barreiro chided agency leaders for suggesting changes that — if previously implemented — probably would have saved the teen's life.

"The callousness, the coldness, the indifference, it kept coming across and across and across and across," Barreiro said. "I never saw any outrage by anybody in the Department of Juvenile Justice, and that's something that really upset me."

The two nurses who allegedly failed to treat Paisley are facing murder charges. The two highest ranking officials at the department — Bankhead and Deputy Secretary Frank Alarcon — are on extended leaves, three upper level managers were pushed out, and 18 other agency workers were suspended or quit.
(snip/...)

http://groups.msn.com/HumanRightsUSA/floridaagencyreeling.msnw

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seven boxes of previously unreleased documents tell of the chaos that enveloped the Miami juvenile lockup as Omar Paisley's life slipped away. After hearing Omar Paisley weep and retch and moan for two days while curled up in a fetal position, detention officers at the Miami juvenile lockup became convinced that the Opa-locka teenager needed help.

''Man, someone needs to get down here, because this kid is sick,'' one officer beseeched a supervisor over the telephone.

"AIN'T NOTHING WRONG WITH HIS ASS"

But a supervisor scolded Paisley to ''suck it up'' -- ignore the pain -- while a nurse declared, ''Ain't nothing wrong with his ass.'' Paisley, his belly filling with poisons from a ruptured appendix, may have paid for their callousness with his life.
(snip)

Terry Mixon, a detention officer since 1989, was in charge of the 28 detainees in Mod 3 during ''B'' shift, beginning at 3 p.m. As soon as he arrived, a knot of about eight kids came up to him. Referring to Paisley, of whom Mixon was known to be very fond, they said: ``Your son is sick.''

Johnson briefed Mixon before leaving, as well: ''He stated the kid is in -- Omar is in bad shape,'' Mixon testified. And, indeed, he was. ''He was laying there and heavy sweating,'' Mixon said in a sworn statement. ``It looked like he had urinated on himself. And I saw the room filthy and dirty. And he grabbed his stomach. With a soft voice, stated to me that his stomach is hurting.''

At first, Mixon left Paisley in his room. ''He asked me not to close his door,'' Mixon testified.
(snip)

http://www.nospank.net/paisley.htm

[Judi Lynn]

6. More on this child.......

Grand jurors proclaimed themselves ''united in our outrage,'' and last week they indicted two nurses for manslaughter and third-degree murder.

Yet the panel's 50-page report, alternately chilling and sickening, goes far beyond the gruesome account of Paisley's final days. It describes a facility in borderline chaos, crippled by an inept bureaucracy and indifferent workers.

''At every turn in our investigation,'' the grand jury wrote, ``we were confronted with incompetence, ambivalence and negligence on the part of the administration and the staff of the M-DRJDC as well as the nurses employed by Miami Children's Hospital .''

Paisley, 17, had been charged with aggravated battery after a fight. He'd taken a plea agreement and was staying at M-DRJDC until he could move to Bay Point Schools, a live-in program where he would receive counseling.

On the morning of June 7, 2003, Paisley told staff members and other inmates that he felt ill. As required, he filled out a ''Youth Request for Sick Call'' form.

''My stomach hurts really bad,'' he wrote. ``I don't know what to do. I cand (sic) sleep.''

Paisley didn't know it, but he was dying from a ruptured appendix. He would spend the next, and final, two days of his life in slow torture -- vomiting, soiling himself and begging for help. The licensed practical nurses who were supposed to treat him were Gaile Loperfido and Dianne Demeritte. The grand jury found their conduct ''so outrageous as to rise to the level of criminal negligence,'' and it indicted them.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/carl_hiaasen/7837732.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unjust Medicine
Why health care in juvenile justice facilities is often atrocious, and what’s being done about it.

By Martha Shirk


By all accounts, 17-year-old Omar Paisley died an excruciating death.


For three days, Omar lay on a concrete bunk, weeping and moaning and begging for help. “Ain’t nothing wrong with his ass,” a licensed practical nurse proclaimed after a cursory examination.


By the time the nurse agreed to summon an ambulance, Omar was delusional. By the time the ambulance was actually called, Omar was dead of a ruptured appendix. No one who watched him die even tried to resuscitate him.
(snip/...)

http://www.youthtoday.org/youthtoday/July_Aug04/story1_7_04.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Same place, different kid:

Posted on Thu, Mar. 11, 2004




JUVENILE JUSTICE


Worker: Guards falsified reports on teen

Already under siege since the death of Omar Paisley, the Miami-Dade juvenile lockup now faces accusations in an attempted suicide case.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER AND MARC CAPUTO

[e-mail]


TALLAHASSEE - The Miami-Dade juvenile lockup, where Omar Paisley died of a burst appendix that went untreated, was jolted by a new allegation Wednesday: that guards falsified documents relating to another inmate's attempted suicide last week.

The charge came on the same day that the state's Department of Juvenile Justice moved to fire more than a dozen workers for their failure to aid the dying Paisley in June.

The department's interim secretary also announced a series of reforms aimed at ensuring that detention workers are properly screened and that detainees are treated humanely.

But the overhaul plan was overshadowed by Wednesday night's dramatic testimony before the special House committee investigating the DJJ. Lockup secretary Cynthia Dominguez told lawmakers that two detention workers doctored records to make it appear they had been regularly monitoring a 16-year-old who had previously attempted suicide at the facility.

In fact, Dominguez said, they had not made the proper checks. The teenager managed to wrap a pillowcase around his throat, a DJJ spokeswoman said.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/8156655.htm

[beyurslf]

4. That's how much the state thinks a young boy's life is worth? What do they

pay their football players?

[kayell]

5. If * returns, that would only be $250 K max. .

What is the price of a life and a mother's agony?

[amber dog democrat]

8. This is going to have huge reprocussions

and someone had to die from peritonitus first.
I hope this ends a number of careers - but more importantly this should not have happened and must not happen again.

I hope this costs the state dearly.

[DulceDecorum]

9. They are getting a little better down in Florida

at least they now know within DAYS when something happens.

Any word of Rilya Wilson?
Or those other kids who just simply VANISHED?

[DeadManInc]

10. State to pay in teen's death

This is sickening. All of the people that denied him medical treatment should be charged with his death. Maybe they need their guts stomped and leave them to suffer the same fate!

[DBoon]

11. Abu Ghraib indeed

The rest of the world needs to understand this is how we treat our all our prisoners. Then they would be very afraid of how barbaric the world's strongest military power has become.

[smbolisnch]

12. Once again, I am speechless.

The callousness is sickening. This was a child, in agony, and nobody lifted a finger. I don't even know what to say. Poor boy, and his mother....... :cry:

[gratuitous]

13. It also causes me to wonder

What sort of person they expected young Mr. Paisley to be once he'd gotten out of the juvenile detention facility? Did they think he'd be a straight-arrow member of society, happily working and paying taxes until retirement? Or did they think he come out sullen and angry, filled with thoughts of revenge and equipped with all sorts of new ideas about how to carry out that revenge?