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Gutwrenching article on death in jail from heroin withdrawal

RIP Pitkin. What an example of a shit useless system intent on covering their arse instead of not fucking up in the first place.

No one willing to accept responsibility, thats so fucked. This happens a lot, an indigenous woman who was a victim of domesyic violence snd was bleeding to death internally arrested on an unrelated charge died in jail as no one gave a shit about her or checked on her. In that case the cover up was laughable too.

Shame. Hope her family gets to the bottom if it. Regardless, that jail is responsible and whoever runs it therefore can shoulder it.
 
At the risk of sounding glib, at least she got some medical attention. All of my arrests have been drug and alcohol related and I was never seen by anyone. I even told the arresting officer I needed my blood pressure meds. He didn't give a shit. The guy in the next cell was going through methadone WD. They didn't give a shit about him either. That said, this was a travesty but nothing will change until the politicians act. Yeah, you can sue and get some money but until some district attorney with integrity decides to make an example of the people running the system, nothing will change.
 
aihfl said:
At the risk of sounding glib, at least she got some medical attention. All of my arrests have been drug and alcohol related and I was never seen by anyone. I even told the arresting officer I needed my blood pressure meds. He didn't give a shit. The guy in the next cell was going through methadone WD. They didn't give a shit about him either. That said, this was a travesty but nothing will change until the politicians act. Yeah, you can sue and get some money but until some district attorney with integrity decides to make an example of the people running the system, nothing will change.
Click to expand...

Exactly. At the very least the nurse a
on duty and doctor who signed off on her chart should have there license to practice pulled. All she likely needed to survive was some IV fluids to balance her electrolytes.
 
aihfl said:
That said, this was a travesty but nothing will change until the politicians act. Yeah, you can sue and get some money but until some district attorney with integrity decides to make an example of the people running the system, nothing will change.
Click to expand...

And for that to change (politicians and DA's) we will have to ramp up drug education in this country and do everything we can to counter the stigma and the moralizing attitudes of many people.
 
herbavore said:
And for that to change (politicians and DA's) we will have to ramp up drug education in this country and do everything we can to counter the stigma and the moralizing attitudes of many people.
Click to expand...

Completely agree. With all these "Panel to Combat ------------- Abuse", (fill in the blank with the drug of the day) and government policies to end the drug crisis and combat overdose deaths, etc, etc, all supposedly made up of a "Panel of Experts", one expert always seems to be missing: the drug user. Who better to advise on medical protocols for opiate withdrawls, (just using opiates because that's the focus of the article) than those who've been through them. Tylenol, phenergan and lomotil for full blown withdrawls??? That alone is enough to constitute cruel and inhumane punishment. Add to that the stigma and the old "they did it to themselves" mantra and the whole thing becomes barbaric. Is managing withdrawls really all that difficult of a concept to grasp? A quick read through this site and the answer is "No!" But what do a bunch of druggies know about drugs?
 
Mr Boris said:
Completely agree. With all these "Panel to Combat ------------- Abuse", (fill in the blank with the drug of the day) and government policies to end the drug crisis and combat overdose deaths, etc, etc, all supposedly made up of a "Panel of Experts", one expert always seems to be missing: the drug user. Who better to advise on medical protocols for opiate withdrawls, (just using opiates because that's the focus of the article) than those who've been through them. Tylenol, phenergan and lomotil for full blown withdrawls??? That alone is enough to constitute cruel and inhumane punishment. Add to that the stigma and the old "they did it to themselves" mantra and the whole thing becomes barbaric. Is managing withdrawls really all that difficult of a concept to grasp? A quick read through this site and the answer is "No!" But what do a bunch of druggies know about drugs?
Click to expand...

That's a damn good point about drug users never being on those panels. I'm not holding my breath when it comes to destigmatization though. That's going to be a long process
 
cj said:
That's a damn good point about drug users never being on those panels. I'm not holding my breath when it comes to destigmatization though. That's going to be a long process
Click to expand...

That why I love what drug users were able to do in Vancouver, ensuring they were on exactly those panels. If only the conditions that led Vancouver to get "desperate" enough for that kind of innovation were more easily reproducible in other cities, I mean without first there being a serious uptick in drug policy related harm.
 
toothpastedog said:
That why I love what drug users were able to do in Vancouver, ensuring they were on exactly those panels. If only the conditions that led Vancouver to get "desperate" enough for that kind of innovation were more easily reproducible in other cities, I mean without first there being a serious uptick in drug policy related harm.
Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe the death rate from drugs will ever be higher then it is today. People are dropping dead from fent left and right. It's crazy.
 
^I hate to say this but I think America is going to be amazed. I think stuff will happen drastically different between different places, but over all even with just opioids I have a feeling things will continue to get worse before they turn better.

That said, it is possible the alarm voice among those reporting on "the epidemic" as the whole opioid addiction thing becomes more accepted as a mainstream phenomenon.

Iono, we shall see how it all turns out (hopefully we'll see a little bit more of it at least).
 
I can imagine, but still can't believe it..I've been detoxing off methadone and it's reminding me how much it sucks. Haven't felt them in like a decade..but to be left on meds that are barely acceptable for codeine detox let alone IV heroin...she was pushed through the cracks unfortunately and then, when the shit went off, everyone is scrambling together trying to get stories straight pass the buck and cover their asses...soooo she received her pills after she had already dropped to the floor? How the hell didn't at least that make it to the initial report..

"I am unclear how that was possible since Pitkin was found unresponsive in her cell prior to Duru arriving in the (medical unit)," a detective wrote in a police report.

The police report detailing Duru's interview with detectives doesn't address the discrepancy.

The autopsy found that Pitkin had no controlled substances or medicine in her system when she died.

And maybe someone with knowledge on the subject can fill me in...why is a Tennessee health care company (hillariously named corizon "coraz?n" is Spanish for heart) contracted to a jail in Oregon? Is this just common private prison SOP or the medical system in general then? The treatment center I go to used to be privately owned now it's owned by some Texas company called medmark. And now everything has to go through them and it's a huge fucking pain in the ass because everyone who works there doesn't give a fuck. You have a billing problem maybe it will get resolved by next year..but I digress..

I'd love to see all those responsible for her death to lose their licenses to practice medicine. It sounded like the CO's we're more concerned than the med staff. You'd think it would be the other way around. One thing that needs to happen is that more medical staff need to understand most addicts have had terrible experiences with the medical community in the past and are more likely to avoid them because it sucks having some dickhead or bitch Dr treating you like you are something they stepped in on the street.

I hope justice is served for this young woman, someway somehow.
 
Until some of the major players in the political and pharmaceutical companies start losing loved ones to Precisely this style of negligence ---- nothing will change for the better.
 
Runningfox said:
Until some of the major players in the political and pharmaceutical companies start losing loved ones to Precisely this style of negligence ---- nothing will change for the better.
Click to expand...

even if they lose a child to this, the moment they stop acting on behlaf of corporate interests...their political career is over, therefore they can't do anything about it.
 
'medicine cabinet' said:
I can imagine, but still can't believe it..I've been detoxing off methadone and it's reminding me how much it sucks. Haven't felt them in like a decade..but to be left on meds that are barely acceptable for codeine detox let alone IV heroin...she was pushed through the cracks unfortunately and then, when the shit went off, everyone is scrambling together trying to get stories straight pass the buck and cover their asses...soooo she received her pills after she had already dropped to the floor? How the hell didn't at least that make it to the initial report..

"I am unclear how that was possible since Pitkin was found unresponsive in her cell prior to Duru arriving in the (medical unit)," a detective wrote in a police report.

The police report detailing Duru's interview with detectives doesn't address the discrepancy.

The autopsy found that Pitkin had no controlled substances or medicine in her system when she died.

And maybe someone with knowledge on the subject can fill me in...why is a Tennessee health care company (hillariously named corizon "coraz?n" is Spanish for heart) contracted to a jail in Oregon? Is this just common private prison SOP or the medical system in general then? The treatment center I go to used to be privately owned now it's owned by some Texas company called medmark. And now everything has to go through them and it's a huge fucking pain in the ass because everyone who works there doesn't give a fuck. You have a billing problem maybe it will get resolved by next year..but I digress..

I'd love to see all those responsible for her death to lose their licenses to practice medicine. It sounded like the CO's we're more concerned than the med staff. You'd think it would be the other way around. One thing that needs to happen is that more medical staff need to understand most addicts have had terrible experiences with the medical community in the past and are more likely to avoid them because it sucks having some dickhead or bitch Dr treating you like you are something they stepped in on the street.

I hope justice is served for this young woman, someway somehow.
Click to expand...

Yeah corazn is a big national healthcare provider for jails and prisons. Basically they bid a certain amount and the state agrees to pay that and no more for every inmates healthcare. If the amount spent goes over the amount the state agreed then the company loses money. This means they have a financial incentive to deny treatment to inmates. It's an awful system that has predictable results
 
toothpastedog said:
That why I love what drug users were able to do in Vancouver, ensuring they were on exactly those panels. If only the conditions that led Vancouver to get "desperate" enough for that kind of innovation were more easily reproducible in other cities, I mean without first there being a serious uptick in drug policy related harm.
Click to expand...

Any info you have on that would be great. Pm me if you need, but meanwhile I'll research it on my own.

Cheers, MB
 
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