Posted: 2/28/2004 3:07:57 AM EDT
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Report: Dying Miami Teen Ignored in Jail Fri Feb 27, 1:41 PM ET MIAMI - A supervisor at a juvenile jail told a dying teen to "suck it up" as the boy retched, wept and moaned from stomach pain, The Miami Herald reported Friday. Some guards tried to get help for 17-year-old Omar Paisley before he died of a burst appendix last June, but their supervisors and jail nurses believed he was faking or exaggerating, according to evidence acquired by the newspaper. "Ain't nothing wrong with his ass," one nurse said, according to seven boxes of documents examined by the newspaper. Paisley's death has led to an overhaul at the state Department of Juvenile Justice, including the removal of three top officials, and third-degree murder and manslaughter charges against nurses Gaile Loperfido and Dianne Demeritte. They are accused of failing to treat Paisley and falsifying records. They have pleaded innocent. Their attorneys, Mel Black and David Rothman, did not immediately return calls Friday to The Associated Press. Grand jurors accused the jail staff of "incompetence, ambivalence and negligence" and an "utter lack of humanity." The Herald received the documents under Florida's public records law, which allows for the release of any law enforcement documents after they are given to defense attorneys. The transcripts and tapes of interviews given to investigators were handed over to the grand jury and could also be used at trial. Paisley had been in the 226-bed jail for just a day for cutting a neighbor with a soda can when he began complaining that he was ill, writing in a request to see a doctor, "My stomach hurts really bad. I don't know what to do." Loperfido visited him that afternoon and diagnosed him with a stomach virus, the documents say. Guards say they never saw her touch his abdomen for signs of appendicitis. Two days later, Paisley was desperately ill. Guard Michael Johnson (news - web sites) told investigators he tried repeatedly to get help from a supervisor or a nurse, as required by the jail's rules. Supervisor Jack Harrington eventually did come to see Paisley, who tapped on his cell's glass to get Harrington's attention. Harrington said he told Paisley that he had a stomach virus and that nurses said he couldn't come out because he would infect the other inmates. "I told him he had to suck it up and walk around," Harrington told investigators. That afternoon, guard Terry Mixon said he found the teen lying in his cell, sweating profusely. Paisley's clothes and cell were covered with diarrhea and urine and he was grabbing his abdomen, softly saying that his stomach hurt. Mixon called Demeritte, the nurse on duty, telling her she needed to come see Paisley. He also started calling his supervisors, requesting medical attention for the teen. More than two hours later, Mixon again called Demeritte, who asked him what was wrong with Paisley. "How in the hell (should) I know?" he says he replied. "All I know is something is wrong with him. And she stated, 'I'm coming down there, but I don't want to take this (mess) home to my kid.'" Demeritte arrived about 10 minutes later and made Paisley walk out of his cell, even though he barely had the strength to stand, Mixon said. She took his temperature and then said: "Ain't nothing wrong with his ass. Let his ass go back in the room," according to Mixon. Then she left. After Demeritte spoke to a supervisor, she completed paperwork to transfer Paisley to the hospital. She then went on a 45-minute break. When guards and supervisors came to get Paisley, they found him slumped in a chair. They tried to stir him. When they picked him up, brown, foul-smelling fluids drained from his body. They put him on the ground, but no one tried to resuscitate him because the first aid kit was missing a CPR mask. By the time paramedics arrived, Paisley was dead. story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=10&u=/ap/20040227/ap_on_re_us/jailed_teen_death -------------------- Those women sound like "nurses" in the same way garbage men are "sanitation engineers." No kid deserves that kind of treatment. |
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That's not surprising. If you get a serious illness or injury while in jail, you've got a good chance dying or being disabled from the injury. I've seen it happen around this area.Heart attacks or internal injuries equal dead! Prisoners bring some if it on themselves by whining and goldbricking with false aliments to "get over" on the system. Still a shame, the youth's crime didn't rate the death penalty. |
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Quoted: What the kid was in for depends on how I feel. It may be gods will that he suffer a miserable death for something he did. It is called fate. When I was an intern, our hospital saw all the state prisoners with medical problems. I specifically didn't want to know what their crime was (irrelevant for medical treatment) but it would not have changed how I treated them. Fate is when some power out of a person's control derails an event into a complete clusterfuck or transforms it into a miracle. What this nurse did was intentional and she should lose her license and be charged with some crime. She is a disgrace. If it had been a doc, I would expect no less. |
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From the article: Paisley had been in the 226-bed jail for just a day for cutting a neighbor with a soda can Yeah, he "deserved it"--especially without a trial. [:(!] Most of the time this place amazes me with how wonderful the membership is and can be. Then there are times like this. [V] |
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Quoted: What the kid was in for depends on how I feel. It may be gods will that he suffer a miserable death for something he did. It is called fate. Gods will is that none should perish, but have ever lasting life. Not that some 17 yr old kid should die a terrible, horrific death at the hands of people with no compassion for those in their charge, She should be in prison, & taste the fruits of her own actions. He cut a neighbor, she killed a boy by ignoring his request for help, does that = out as a far payment for what he did? That's pretty twisted, & this story is really sad. |