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Family Sues PA Jail Over Heroin Withdrawal Death

Tchort

Tchort

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GREENSBURG, Pa. - An inmate's surviving family is suing a western Pennsylvania jail saying the man died because his complaints about heroin withdrawal were ignored.

The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Pittsburgh targets the Westmoreland County Prison in Greensburg where 23-year-old Corey Kardos was found dead in his cell March 9. At the time, Warden John Walton said Kardos didn't commit suicide and Walton said he had no information about any medical condition that would have contributed to his death.

But Kardos' family claims he was a heroin addict and complained repeatedly about withdrawal symptoms when he was arrested and jailed March 1.

The county isn't commenting on the suit which says Kardos died of malnutrition and other problems caused by his untreated withdrawal sickness.
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Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

08/19/2009

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/...amilysuespajailoverheroinwithdrawaldeath.html
 
Is it a state law or federal that can legally let someone die from WD in jail?

Fuck this bullshit.. :(
 
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The loss of a life when it isn't needed, these people should pay for allowing this man to suffer.

i've seen people have heroin withdrawal, but for one to die from it, i dont want to imagine the pain.
 
It's more common than most people think. Rare, but not rare enough.

Not too long ago a court in Europe found in favor of a group of Heroin addicts who were put in jail and not given medical treatment- they asserted that they had been tortured by the state, and won.

Here is an article about the outcome:

More Than 200 Heroin Addict Prisoners Forced To Go 'Cold Turkey' Win £4,000 Damages Each For Human Rights Breach

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...mages each for human rights breach/article.do
 
^For real. I've been through withdrawal on two medications (Effexor and Lyrica), and the pain is excruciating. Migraines, severe stomach problems, sensitivity to light, cold chills, hot flashes, delusional thinking... all at the same time... I can't imagine what it's like when you're in a fucking jail. It's no surprise to me that it could kill someone. Especially since you get massively dehydrated and shit out 95% of what you eat within a couple hours of eating it...
 
I didn't know you can actually die from heroin withdrawals. I've gone threw it many many times and while you feel like your dieing and wish you were dead, I've always been told that it can't be fatal. You learn something new everyday.
 
Another example of the failed war on drugs. Addicts belong in hospitals, not jails.
 
This is pathetic, completely pathetic. I am SO SICK of people looking at drug addicts as less important than a fucking rat. It's ridiculous. Addicts are human beings who made a mistake, just like EVERY OTHER human being in the entire world, yet because of the stigma on drugs we don't matter. As far as the government and the state cares we can rot in a cold cell dying like this man and nobody will look twice because it was "just an addict." This makes me so angry I can't even begin to describe it. I have never been to jail, but I am on Methadone and Xanax and if they put me in jail and gave me no help at all I WOULD die due to the high doses I am prescribed and that scares the hell out of me. Something HAS to be done about this, there's just no other option. These are human beings, and this could be any one of us. I'll be writing letters to the representatives of PA and of my state regarding this issue and see where they stand on it. There HAS to be some kind of process of letting the person come off the drug. Obviously that doesn't mean give them heroin in smaller and smaller doses until they aren't in danger, but atleast give them the option to use Suboxone or Methadone in prison. This is just so sickening, died like a worthless rat and that's how everyone looked at him.
 
all they do for you in jail is move you to a lower bunk if youre having wd's, that way if you are having a seizure you wont fall from the top bunk
 
rant*N*rave said:
^For real. I've been through withdrawal on two medications (Effexor and Lyrica), and the pain is excruciating. Migraines, severe stomach problems, sensitivity to light, cold chills, hot flashes, delusional thinking... all at the same time... I can't imagine what it's like when you're in a fucking jail. It's no surprise to me that it could kill someone. Especially since you get massively dehydrated and shit out 95% of what you eat within a couple hours of eating it...
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I don't mean to insult you, but WDs from Effexor aren't Lyrica aren't SHIT compared to heroin WDs. I actually didn't notice much at all when I cold-turkeyed Effexor, but that's just me.

Hendrix Haze15 said:
I didn't know you can actually die from heroin withdrawals. I've gone threw it many many times and while you feel like your dieing and wish you were dead, I've always been told that it can't be fatal. You learn something new everyday.
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You can't die from the withdrawals alone (though benzos are a different story), but according to the article he died due to malnutrition because he wasn't eating.
 
Many people cannot sleep and may go through intense psychosis from H withdrawal. Dehydration is also possible.; as well as malnutrition as as the article says. And another possible of death from withdrawal is a head injury/concussion from seizure/convulsion. I am just guessing from bits of anecdotes.
 
Exactly, the malnutrition was probably because he COULDNT eat due to his withdrawals. I know when I am going through withdrawals I will go DAYS without food, and even when I can manage to eat it's just a cracker or two with a small bit of water. It's pathetic how addicts are treated in jail, well everywhere for that matter. I hope the family wins this case, then maybe the prison system will begin to help relieve addicts pain, even if somewhat.
 
rant*N*rave said:
^For real. I've been through withdrawal on two medications (Effexor and Lyrica), and the pain is excruciating. Migraines, severe stomach problems, sensitivity to light, cold chills, hot flashes, delusional thinking... all at the same time... I can't imagine what it's like when you're in a fucking jail. It's no surprise to me that it could kill someone. Especially since you get massively dehydrated and shit out 95% of what you eat within a couple hours of eating it...
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dont confuse w/d from either of those medications with heroin withdrawal...There is different types of withdrawals that occurs with diff. drugs. Wat u experienced was not the same as heroin withdrawal....2 very different things, the symptoms you said dont even really describe heroin w/d its 10000 times worse than that so u cant even begin to imagine :(
 
I've watched more than one person come off heroin, and some of them went through less bullshit than I did. One of my friends damn near killed herself trying to get off of it. It's different for everyone. I was almost hospitalized twice as the result of withdrawal, and I was hospitalized just to get ON Lyrica. It took me two months to get off of Effexor, under strict medical supervision, and I was still sick after that, to the point I had to drop out of school. With Lyrica, if I miss one dose, I'm sicker than hell within 4-6 hours. So I'm not sure why everyone is so convinced they know exactly what happened to me. And in any event, even if you somehow magically know what I went through, I can still imagine how ridiculously awful it is to go through something like that in jail. I never said that I had it as bad, and I'm sure I didn't, nor did I ever say I was in withdrawal from heroin at any point, but I sure as shit can understand how awful it is. You don't know how my life has been ruined by drugs. Just because they've been prescription doesn't magically make it easy. :p


And being systematically abused and starved while going through the most "easy" withdrawal would make it hell, so even if my experiences were so "easy," I still know it would suck unimaginably to go through it in jail, whatever drug caused it.
 
rant*N*rave said:
I've watched more than one person come off heroin, and some of them went through less bullshit than I did. One of my friends damn near killed herself trying to get off of it. It's different for everyone. I was almost hospitalized twice as the result of withdrawal, and I was hospitalized just to get ON Lyrica. It took me two months to get off of Effexor, under strict medical supervision, and I was still sick after that, to the point I had to drop out of school. With Lyrica, if I miss one dose, I'm sicker than hell within 4-6 hours. So I'm not sure why everyone is so convinced they know exactly what happened to me. And in any event, even if you somehow magically know what I went through, I can still imagine how ridiculously awful it is to go through something like that in jail. I never said that I had it as bad, and I'm sure I didn't, nor did I ever say I was in withdrawal from heroin at any point, but I sure as shit can understand how awful it is. You don't know how my life has been ruined by drugs. Just because they've been prescription doesn't magically make it easy. :p


And being systematically abused and starved while going through the most "easy" withdrawal would make it hell, so even if my experiences were so "easy," I still know it would suck unimaginably to go through it in jail, whatever drug caused it.
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look, no one said you had it easy or knows what you went threw, we are just saying you can't compare withdrawals from lyrica and effexor to withdrawals from opiates. You just can't compare the two. Lyrica and effexor aren't even opiates, so the way they work is completely different from heroin and other opiates. Also I doubt "you can understand how awful it is", because no one can know the true horror of full blown heroin withdrawals unless they have gone through it.
 
Hendrix Haze15 said:
Also I doubt "you can understand how awful it is", because no one can know the true horror of full blown heroin withdrawals unless they have gone through it.
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Which is a pity, as if you could comprehend WD before using - there would be a lot less addicts out there.
 
Eight0Eight said:
Which is a pity, as if you could comprehend WD before using - there would be a lot less addicts out there.
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I don't think so. While holding withdrawals at bay is a concern of addicts, it is not the sole, or even a primary, reason for maintaining a habit. It may be a major rationale, but that is part of the disease. We all knew the consequences; logic and rationality are not relative during active addiction.

In the same vain, you could say that going through withdrawal in jail is a deterrant to addicts so they will stay clean when they get out of jail (and this is one old reason why 'lock them up' was an early public knee-jerk reaction to addiction). This is an underlying factor in the psychology that allowed this young man in the story to die without so much as a single visit to the infirmiry.

We as a society, including addicts, have internalized the 'moral model' of addiction. Even though modern science rejects this model, we still believe it, in whole or part, almost every person. Even if you throw scientific discoveries in the face of someone adhereing to the most anti-addict, anti-drug position, they will inevitably revert to the argument "they did it to themselves so they should have to deal with it"- which is an argument that society feels is unique to addicts, as the compulsive eater who becomes grossly overweight, the smoker who gets lung cancer, etc- people who contract a disease as a result of personal choices- are worthy of compassion and medical treatment.
 
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