People With Type 1 Diabetes Denied Medical Care in Pennsylvania Prisons, Lawsuit Alleges
Officers allegedly tased one man when he experienced an episode of hypoglycemia because he did not keep his arms and hands in front while they attempted to handcuff him.
This article was originally published in The Appeal.
Disability Rights Pennsylvania has filed suit against the state’s prison system, alleging that the agency provides dangerously inadequate medical care for people with Type 1 diabetes and punishes them for their disease.
“This action seeks to stop the cruel and unusual punishment of, and discrimination against, prisoners in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes,” the complaint says.
Steve and Barbara O’Connor’s daughter, Ellen, is among the approximately 190 people with Type 1 diabetes incarcerated in Pennsylvania state prisons, according to the complaint. Prior to her incarceration, her condition was well-managed, they said. But since she’s been locked up, she’s been “near comatose” multiple times with extreme blood sugar lows.
(Ellen is not her real name. At the family’s request, The Appeal is using an alias to protect her privacy.)
Disability Rights Pennsylvania (DRP) says Ellen’s experience is emblematic of a system-wide crisis. People with Type 1 diabetes are “denied basic medical care,” putting them at “immediate risks of loss of consciousness, seizures, coma, and sudden death,” according to the group’s complaint. The group alleges that, as a result of DOC’s policies and practices, life-threatening low and high blood sugars are a pervasive problem among prisoners with Type 1 diabetes.
“I want these people to get life-sustaining care,” Barbara said. “They walk in as one, and they can walk out without limbs, heart disease, blind, a multitude of life-changing illnesses due to the lack of care.”
Ellen fears she won’t survive her incarceration.
“She keeps saying she’s afraid she’s going to die in there, she’s never going to get out,” Barbara said.
Officers tased one man when he experienced an episode of hypoglycemia and was unresponsive because he did not keep his arms and hands in front while they attempted to handcuff him, according to the complaint.
Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, can cause a person to become confused and disoriented. If left untreated, it can quickly lead to loss of consciousness, seizures, or death.
This same man was also hospitalized twice for diabetic ketoacidosis, which is caused by high blood sugar levels, over the course of one week.
Read more at The Appeal.