Black woman dies of thirst after she was dragged out of SC hospital to jail over unpaid court fines

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Raw Story

Black woman dies of thirst after she was dragged out of SC hospital to jail over unpaid court fines

Travis Gettys
25 Feb 2016 at 11:33 ET

South Carolina woman died 27 hours after she was hauled out of a hospital and taken to jail over unpaid court fines — and her family said she was denied water and medical care.

Joyce Curnell was found dead in her cell July 22, one day after she was arrested at Roper Hospital, where she had been treated for a stomach illness, and taken to the Charleston County Jail, reported The Post and Courier.

. . .

Curnell had been taken by ambulance to Roper Hospital from her Edisto Island home after complaining of nausea and vomiting, and she was diagnosed with gastroenteritis in the emergency room.

A bench warrant was discovered at some point during her hospital stay, and someone alerted law enforcement officers.



Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/black-woman-dies-of-thirst-after-she-was-dragged-out-of-sc-hospital-to-jail-over-unpaid-court-fines/

[valerief]

1. Of course, no one will be held accountable for this. After all, she's black and this is America.

[elehhhhna]

85. Oh everybody's going to settle cash on her family.

The doc who released her and the cops

[SCantiGOP]

94. It was her son who turned her in

She was a relapsed alcoholic, and he was worried about her safety and thought she would get medical treatment, so he informed the police that she had an outstanding bench warrant.
He had no idea he was signing her death warrant.

[elehhhhna]

95. holy christ

Regardless, she should bot have been released in her state and the LEOs fycked up. Poor son.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Debtor Prison

[romanic]

69. Pretty much.

[myrna minx]

3. .

[blm]

4. Pure EVIL was done to this woman.

.

[Dont call me Shirley]

45. Yes it was! Joyce...

[litlbilly]

5. All I can say is: Wholly fuck does this shit have to stop. Enough is enough. We need Bernie more

than ever. I sure hope this country wakes up.

[roguevalley]

17. what the living hell. what the hell.

[daleanime]

18. Amen.....

[MrScorpio]

56. I hate to be the one to break this to you...

But it won't matter who the president will be, America's going to keep treating black people, especially poor black people, like shit for quite a long time.

Simply, because America has always been this way. It's in our DNA.

[litlbilly]

60. I dont think so, its just that the minority with that dna are the fuckers in charge. Thats what I

believe.

[MrScorpio]

62. This country is quite set in its ways...

White supremacy and bias against the poor aren't things that can be swept away by some guy riding in on a white horse.

Even electing Bernie won't bring about some new age collective consciousness to do away with aspects of America that have been with us since before the Founders.

Even if he is elected, stories of police oppression, anti-blackness and bias against poor people will happen. Simply because it doesn't matter who's in the White House FOR them to happen.

I have to say that a lot of people have absolutely no idea what country they're living in.

[litlbilly]

72. Here's the thing, we are right on the edge of pure mayhem. It may not seem like it but we are

In fact, the entire planet is on the edge of the biggest shit storm ever. When we lose about 2/3 of the population almost over night, things will change in a huge fucking hurry. Just my observation. Things cannot stand the way they are right now with this tug of war going on, and not just in this country, all over the world. We have a chance to maybe lessen the degree of this but, if Hillary is chosen, we will end up with trump and that will surely hasten whats coming. The biggest commodity right now? Water...you watch what happens when the Koch's and their buddies get complete control of that. It will suck more than you can imagine.

[MrScorpio]

73. Bernie Sanders isn't a demigod, he's a politician running for public office.

Not to mention the fact that he's only ONE MAN.

A lot of shit is going to go down whether he's elected or not.

[litlbilly]

74. We are Bernie, all of us, it is not about him. Hillary is about her and thats it. If you cant see

that then good luck.

[MrScorpio]

75. I really have no desire to get into a conversation about identity politics right now...

I'll just simply tell you to that that, although you have have right to believe whatever you want to believe, that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm obligated in any way to endorse it.

[litlbilly]

77. Next time, try reading what I actually wrote.

[Cali_Democrat]

93. Well said. nt

[farleftlib]

6. Say what??

"A bench warrant was discovered at some point during her hospital stay, and someone alerted law enforcement officers."

This is what you can expect when you go to the hospital now? Someone vetting you and doing background searches and terminating medical care so that you can be hauled off to jail?! For fines?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

9. They just saved a mint since she didn't have any health insurance!

This is the way of our country. Greedy MFs. Was she pulled out against doctors orders?

[safeinOhio]

22. Saved a mint, just like Michigan's governor did

with Flints water.
Save enough to break the bank for Michigan in the courts.

While they may not go to jail, the cops and hospital are more than ripe for civil court.

I wish I would have kept up my law career.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

7. Another MURDER by pig

And we slide more to the right.

[retrowire]

8. woah woah woah...

Of thirst?! They couldn't give her water? What the fuck is missing here?

[leftynyc]

10. She was likely dehydrated from

the gastroenteritis - I've had it and you can't keep anything inside. May she rest in peace and may the person who called the cops never have a decent night's rest ever again.

[me b zola]

49. Right. It sounds as though she needed IV fluids...

...like the kind that they can give to you in a hospital.

[psychopomp]

63. I find it difficult to believe anybody in healthcare would let her be taken

...away from the place that is keeping her alive.

Isn't that in direct opposition to the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath?

[Ilsa]

90. I imagine the family will also sue the hospital. nt

[Ilsa]

91. Article should say dehydration. And loss of essential

electrolytes may have brought on a heart attack.

[JDPriestly]

11. The oligarchy strikes again.

This is absolutely the worst low yet.

[pansypoo53219]

12. debt is now a death penalty. dickens is back.

[Solly Mack]

13. Damn

Sickening.

[potone]

14. There are no words.

[Stuart G]

30. Agree

[mahannah]

46. ...

[SunSeeker]

15. K & R for exposure. nt

[Milliesmom]

16. It's happening everywhere

Utah Man Dies in ‘Debtors’ Prison’ Over $2,400 Medical Bill (He was white)

An investigation has been launched into the death of Utah man Rex Iverson who died in a holding cell after failing to appear in court for a $2,376.92 debt for an ambulance ride he had taken in 2015.

Brigham city won a suit against Iverson requiring him to pay the fee, but he subsequently ignored all calls and letters summoning him. A bench warrant was issued by the court, and though the Sheriff of Brigham city maintains that they try to avoid becoming a debtors’ prison, they were forced to arrest Iverson over his debt and absence.

More

http://trofire.com/2016/02/22/utah-man-dies-in-debtors-prison-over-2400-medical-bill/

[PatrickforO]

23. How is it that a ride in a fucking ambulance

costs $2,376??????????????????

How?????????????????

I want SINGLE PAYER NOW!

[Cal33]

28. Right you are.

[GoneFishin]

57. Me too. This is bullshit.

[Recursion]

86. It costs that under Medicare too

The problem is why it costs so much in the first place; Medicare doesn't actually make that go away.

[PatrickforO]

87. I'll tell you, though, that if Congress would allow the government

to negotiate costs down, then it would go away.

[Recursion]

88. And Congress doesn't, because the AMA and Pharma are powerful lobbies. That would remain so

under single payer; in some ways it would get worse because any attempt to cut provider reimbursements would be attacked as "cutting Medicare".

[PatrickforO]

89. Which is why overturning Citizens United and reforming

campaign financing laws is a must, which Bernie wants to do. The way you pull the fangs of these special interests is to make it impossible to take their money. Then they have no purpose.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Police murdering. If they had given her water it would have been manslaughter. . nt

[cstanleytech]

20. According to the article it was not the police.

"Her family filed a notice to sue the jail’s medical contractor, Carolina Center for Occupational Health, for malpractice — claiming medical staffers ignored requests by jail officials to help Curnell."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

21. Thanks for clarification. But surely even police can give water. . . nt

[cstanleytech]

26. They probably did give it but if she was unable to keep it down because of nausea all the water

in the world being given to her wont help and the only real solution is an IV and thats something the police dont have training on.

[sarge43]

38. Minimum, EMT training and certification to place an IV n/t

[Ilsa]

92. She probably also lost too many electrolytes.

These imbalances can cause arrhythmias and lead to heart attacks. She needed more than water; I bet she needed electrolytes via IV and frequent monitoring of her bloodwork.

[AllyCat]

24. We have a nasty and racist society

[Lazy Daisy]

25. This shit's gotta stop

Why in hell did she have to be taken out of the hospital? It's court fines ffs, and in the grand scheme of things not a whole lot of money. It's not like she owed millions and she was hiding money off shore..... oh wait.... if that was the case she'd still be alive, resting comfortably in her hospital bed.

This has got to stop NOW

[blackspade]

27. A death sentence for a bench warrant.

Whoever 'alerted' the cops is an asshole.
The cops in this case are a bunch of murdering fucks.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

31. I hope the alerter feels responsible.

[blackspade]

52. Me too.

Mainly, because they are.

[DocMac]

29. Motherfuckers!

Get lots of groceries and don't leave the house.

[dae]

32. Who in the hospital released her? Now people can be snatched

from a hospital bed?
Fuc& the Middle Ages, we are heading to the Dark Ages!

[Babel_17]

33. Jaw droppingly horrible

Wake up America.

[democrank]

34. Just plain awful.

Rest in peace, Ms. Curnell.

[gregcrawford]

35. Christ on a crutch!

When are these psychotic murderers going to be brought under control?!!? And whoever dropped a dime on the poor woman deserves to be defenestrated.

[DonCoquixote]

37. to be fair

the hospital probably had to say it, and they might not have realized they would be this stupid. Every jail has a clinic, and if these jailors were smart, they would have simply taken her to that clinic, given her an IV, and she would be alive. There was something evil here.

[gregcrawford]

41. Perhaps so...

... but one has to wonder how or why anyone at the hospital would be made aware of the bench warrant in the first place.

But you're right; something evil happened there.

[DonCoquixote]

36. key words

"Court documents show Curnell was placed in a housing unit, instead of being taken to the jail’s medical facility, and she was given a trash bag to vomit into because she was too weak to visit the restroom."

Now, every damned jail has medical facilities. EVERY ONE. BY LAW. If this person was taken FROM THE HOSPITAL, they could have put her in the CLINIC, and, if nothing else , hooked her up to an electrolyte IV unit, which is what most hospitals would do. Not like she was going to make a Jailbreak with an IV in her arm. The fact they did not even use the Clinic implies something worse, after all, these clinics are supposed to be able to handle stabbings, they could not hook a woman up to a simple damned IV?

This was reckless endangerment with malice, period.

[atreides1]

50. Jails have medical facilities

The problem is that a vast majority of them are contracted, which means the care is mostly substandard at best and negligent at worse!

Unfortunately, the law you speak of doesn't require good medical care for inmates, just that medical care is available!

Remember it's all about saving taxpayer dollars, at least that's what the politicos will tell you.

[DonCoquixote]

51. Oh I understand

It is just that if they try to weasel out of this, it will not be hard for a jury to think "they took her out of the hospital" why not put her in the clinic that my taxpayer dollars pay for? It is also the fact that the IV is NOT complicated: stick an IV of glorified gatorade in her arm, done.

[redwitch]

39. I cannot believe the hospital allowed them to take her!!!!

I am appalled.

[farleftlib]

40. Allowed it?

They called the cops on her!! Because she owed money! She wasn't some ax murderer or child molester.

[redwitch]

42. Reading the story made me sick to my stomach.

"First do no harm".

[farleftlib]

55. There are several problems at work here

First of all, hospitals should never be encouraged or even allowed to assist law enforcement officials as part of their job. I've heard about cops being called if a pregnant woman has drugs in her system, sometimes when she was in labor. She gives birth in shackles and gets dragged to jail. Kid goes who knows where. Not cool.

But I've also learned that these new for-profit prisons don't have medical staff present at all times. Doctors have to be called in by non-medical personnel and they don't always come.

There was a case in Philly years ago where a guy in custody kept puking and screaming for a doctor and the staff wouldn't call one because they said he was dope-sick. It turns out he was a diabetic and he died because the doctor refused to come examine him due to the dismissive way the guards were talking about the guy. Went into diabetic shock and died.

The family sued and won. Guess what they did. They fired that particular doctor but the process remained in place where a doctor was on call but could refuse to come based on the report.

I have the distinct feeling in this case, they'll maybe have to pay the family some money, maybe not, but *nothing* will change.

[Calista241]

59. Not all the time

Hospitals routinely perform rape exams and provide rape kit collection services to law enforcement. I'd like for that to continue.

[farleftlib]

67. I thought

it would be obvious that anything that benefits a patient would be exempted from that prohibition.

[herding cats]

64. The article says it was her son who called the police.

He notified them she had an open warrant and that she was there.

[PersonNumber503602]

71. The hell?

[cstanleytech]

84. Thats not what the article says

"The newspaper reported Thursday afternoon that Curnell’s son, who is planning the lawsuit, notified law enforcement of the open warrant."
Doesnt mitigate the liability for her death though by the company that was contracted by the prison if they refused to treat her though and I would hope that they would be found to be in breech of contract a minimum.

[DonCoquixote]

47. even if a jail has to take someone

there is a jail clinic, which is where any patient from a hospital should have been. They could have given her a simple IV of electrolytes (like what they do for heat stroke) which any clinic could have done. Why this was not, is the real sinister "?"

[Enthusiast]

43. Kicked and recommended! MURDER!

[Turbineguy]

44. They easily spent more

killing her than she owed.

It seems it is necessary to make life as onerous as possible in this country.

[Dont call me Shirley]

48. SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The fucking SYSTEM is a disease!!!!!!!!!

[peacebird]

53. Someone needs to go to jail over this. This is beyond obscene.

[fleur-de-lisa]

54. Fucking disgraceful . . .

I hope there are some indictments over this.

[Dustlawyer]

58. Who in the hell thought this would be a good idea? To take a woman from the hospital to jail, a

woman dehydrated already from illness, then not give her water? Did they talk to her doctor first?

No, they didn't care then, but I bet they do now!!!

[bkkyosemite]

61. Press charges on those idiots

[dem in texas]

65. This is what happens when you are Poor and Black in SC

Why didn't they let her work off her court fees by doing community service? No wait - that's too humane. SC was going to teach this woman a lesson - lock her up! It makes me sick to read this. I hope someone gets punished, really more than one person, but I doubt if that will happen.

[Old Vet]

66. My first thought was there's got to be more to this story.....

If in fact it went down as written, People should be arrested, jailed, And the hospital and police would be facing a lawsuit so fucking large that they would beg to settle for millions for her family. My god if it was one of my family members it would be a daily MISSION to exact justice for my family member and hope it would deter this from happening again.

[trillion]

68. I can't stand it.

And dying of thirst is torture.

[FiveGoodMen]

70. Torture indeed.

Eye-for-an-eye sounds about right to me in this case.

[RKP5637]

76. Third World USA! n/t

[LiberalElite]

78. I fucking HATE what this country has become nt

[noretreatnosurrender]

79. Monstrous!

This story makes me angry on so many levels. I am totally outraged!

[youceyec]

80. this is all

going to get A LOT worse now that the Rs might pick a white nationalist as their nominee.

[Liberal_in_LA]

81. omg

[Blue_Tires]

82. I'm sure some S.C. repubs will explain why she had it coming

[mercuryblues]

83. her son called

the police on his mother.. She was an alcoholic and started drinking again. When she got sick he figured he would turn her in to keep her from drinking. She also had sickle cell.

When she got to the jail she was placed in a housing unit, not the medical unit.
A Dr prescribed something for nausea and Tylenol.

The nurse was called at 1:30 am to examine her, she showed up at 5am. She never examined her. Other inmates and guards told the nurse they thought she was detoxing, she believed them and left. Her reasoning is that she couldn't prescribe meds for her, she's not a DR. Contact the medical unit if she gets worse.

A nurse went in at 8AM and 2PM, and noted she had “no complaints or questions.” She died later.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20160225/PC16/160229587