My brother was told he is in liver failure

[Jenny26301]

My brother was told he is in liver failure and needs a transplant without it he would die. He is in jail and unable to get on the transplant list and is filling up with fluid. He looks like he is going to have a baby his belly is so big along wtih his legs. He went had 7 liters of fluid drained off then two days later had 5 more. He hasn't really been peeing much they did cath him and he peed some said he has been going little more after that. He does have Hep C he will be in jail for 6 more months and my fear is he wont make it that long. I lost my mom and sister both to to same thing they both died different. I guess my question is how long does my brother have? He is little yellow in the eyes but not so much in the skin from what i could tell from my visit.

[Advocate1955]

We are all so sorry to hear about your loss.  You did everything possible to help your brother, and our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Advocate1955

[ceanothus]

Oh Jenny, I am so sorry to hear this, and so incredibly angry with the prison system there for taking a non-payment of child support offense and turning that 6 month jail sentence into a death penalty. At least your brother's suffering and mistreatment is over, and I pray he is in a far better place now, though I still think the people responsible should all be locked up for 20 years themselves. I hope your lawyer sees it that way too and can persuade a judge and jury to see it that way. I wish I could help. Please feel free to contact me personally anytime you need a sympathetic ear. You have a difficult task yet, to try to find your own healing and peace of mind while still fighting the system that did this. I wish you good luck in your quest and will send healing energy your way.

[orphanedhawk]

Yes, thank you for letting us know the outcome.
Please accept my condo lenses.
Good luck in going forward and publicizing this story.

[rivll]

Jenny, Thank you for the follow up. I am so very sorry for your loss and what our brother went through.
I am so glad you have a lawyer. I would take it to the media too.
Take good care.

[Dawn703]

I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. I can imagine the helplessness that was felt. You really do have my sympathy. Good luck in your endeavor.

[bbj2856]

Dr Bennett C ecil is my Dr. If you will send me personal message here  I will give you the phone number for his office.

bbj2856

[Jenny26301]

Thank you for your help.. and prayers.. but my brother died last wed..

[Jenny26301]

I just wanted to thank you all for your help and input. Although my brother lost his battle and died this on the 3rd. He didn't get out of prison but did die in a hospital and not a prison. Thank you all who tried to help me and give me information. The hardest part is knowing how bad my brother suffered and no one cared or bothered to help him when he needed it. He bleed to death and from what I was told from the doctors he had been bleeding for days and the doctor at the prison did nothing to help him. I'm going to get a lawyer so that this doesn't' happen to anyone else. thank you again for your support...

[jules2551]

§25-1-16. Transfer of inmates of state institutions or facilities.
The State Commissioner of Corrections shall have authority to cause the transfer of any inmate from any correctional facility to any other state or federal institution or facility which is better equipped for the care or treatment of such inmate, or for other good cause or reason.

Whenever an inmate committed to the custody of corrections becomes mentally ill and his or her needs cannot be properly met within the correctional facility, the commissioner shall proceed in accordance with section thirty-one, article five, chapter twenty-eight of this code.

Whenever an inmate committed to the custody of corrections needs medical attention, other than mental health care, not available at said prison, the warden or administrator of said correctional facility shall immediately notify the Commissioner of Corrections who, after proper investigation, shall cause the transfer of said inmate to a facility properly equipped to render the medical attention necessary. Such inmate, while receiving treatment in said hospital, shall be under an appropriate level of supervision at all times and shall forthwith be returned to his or her correctional facility upon release from said facility

****************************************************************************

David Ballard, Warden

1 Mountainside Way
Mt. Olive, West Virginia 25185
Phone:  [phone]
Fax: [phone]

*******************************************************************
Maybe you could get some help by calling the Warden's office.  I don't know.  I can't anywhere who has the medical contract.  It has to be one of the local hospitals close by.

Sorry I couldn't help more!

Jules

[ceanothus]

Can you find out who is in charge of his medical care? The facility ought to give you the doctor's name, but if they won't then I would try to contact Linda J. Bernard, RN, Director of West Virginia operations for PrimeCare Medical.
I think talking to the doctor who is responsible should be a very high priority, and try really hard to not let them put you off on that. Someone has to be responsible, and they are a very good target for pressure. I've also put out a request for legal info and will let you know if I hear anything.

[Jenny26301]

This has been awful.. I can't get the jail to tell me anything. I have called so many people and get nothing. I do know they haven't drained anymore fluid off him. I guess they gave him a fluid pill but it's not working. When I got to talk to him he sounded weak and said he has a lot of fluid and getting harder to get out of bed. The worse part is I think I complained enough they moved him from our regional jail to prison. his lawyer says because they didn't want him to die on their watch. they say its because the prison will give him better medical treatment which i'm sure still isn't the treatment he needs. I'm just hitting a brick wall no idea what to do and i fear i'm going to get a phone call

[can-do-man]

To add to the great advice above it sounds like your brother should start the ball rolling to get on SSDI, that way when he gets out of jail he would be able to make his "donations" to his child.

[libzo2]

My son lives in the woods because of Child Support Gestapo tactics.  He was doing alright, making donations and having his boy 1/2 time but when he was laid off, his greatest fear began.  They took away driving privileges so he was on a downward spiral, couldn't find work and couldn't get his son.  This really affected him in not a good way.  Things seem structured in such a way to breed failure for our young men.  You are not alone when it comes to trying to find fairness or compassion in the system at hand.  My heart bleeds for your loses.  You are an inspiration to me in your cry for help for your bro.  I pray the tide will turn for him and give us all hope.  

[Jenny26301]

Mt. Olive prison

[Jenny26301]

He is in mt. Olive prison

[Jenny26301]

His lawyer says his hands are tied! I'm going to local news!

[Jenny26301]

Thank you so much. Sadly I been calling and writing people they've moved my brother to maximum security prison! I was told he's to sick to remain in our local jail. So he is now where people wo murder are. I was told he will receive better medical treatment there and I hope they are right. Thank you for all the recourse I will contact all of them. I fear he won't make it til April when he might get out.

[Jenny26301]

I've been calling everyone I can. I've been told there isn't anything that can be done that the judge has to do it. I was told the prison he is in has the best medical dept in the state. And I hope they re right. My only issue is how well could it be and will he last til April when he can get out? Thank you for your support.

[jules2551]

Maximum Security Prison for not paying child support?    I have to agree with Advocate in contacting the press.  That might be the quickest way in getting your brother the help he needs.  These private companies do not like this kind of press.  I think the community you live in would be outraged just like we are.

Best of luck!

Jules

[orphanedhawk]

I think Advocate has a good idea. Start writing letters to the editors of local newspapers, call radio stations, get on utube, twitter~ whatever you can to bring this deplorable situation to light.
They can not deny him care simply because he is in prison. Get on his lawyer's case.
He needs a special diet. Some states have hospital prisons which is where he belongs.

[Advocate1955]

What do you think about talking to your brother's attorney about possibly going to the press or getting an advocacy group to speak out on your brother's behalf?
Advocate1955

[Jenny26301]

Yes its a contracted company. I got word they sent him to prison yesterday a maxium security perison. Shocked for child support. I'm doing everything I can but hitting brick wall. Thank you for ur comment

[pooh55811]

Interesting information about the county jail healthcare in WV. If there is a private company that holds the healthcare contracts in WV, that may be the problem, or part of it. Private companies that are contracted to provide medical care to inmates are usually paid a set amount of money per inmate for a certain period of time. They generally are not paid per medical problem or frequency of care. So the more money the private company spends on inmate health, the less profit the private company gets. Conversely, the less money the private company spends, the more money the company makes. I don't know if this is the problem or part of the problem, but with a contract company providing the health care, there is a lot of incentive to give minimal care.

Don't give up. Keep trying. There has to be something that can be done.

[ceanothus]

Dear Jenny, 
Those is so WRONG that it has me incredibly upset. No one should have this kind of punishment for any crime, but especially not that kind of crime. I did some Googling and have a few ideas you might try pursuing. First I discovered that a company called PrimeCare Medical of West Virginia holds the contracts for healthcare in West Virginia county jails. They are a wholly owned subsidiary of PrimeCare Medical, Inc. You could try contacting them directly. I've located their website at http://www.primecaremedical.com/primecare/index.html. I found their 
Vice President of West Virginia Operations is Linda J. Bernard, RN, CCHP-RN, and their mailing address is: 
PrimeCare Medical, Inc. 
3940 Locust Lane
Harrisburg, PA 17109

I think the first step would be to learn what the law says about his rights to health care and about cruel and unusual punishment, which this sounds like to me. You should also find out what are the official policies for healthcare in jail. It may be that some small local person is abusing their own power and illegally depriving your brother of proper care, and that higher authorities would correct this. I couldn't get very far on researching that stuff without knowing exactly which jail he is held in. You might also be able to get more information about his rights from some prisoner rights websites listed at: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/srsis/links/prisonerrights.html, and also some information is available at:
http://linux.hcvadvocate.org/cgi-bin/search.cgi?zoom_query=Prisoners

One other approach which I highly recommend is to utilize the process offered by: 
http://www.change.org/petitions
This is an social action platform that helps individuals launch successful petition campaigns to put pressure on agencies and corporations to do the right thing, regardless of what the specific issue is - it can be about almost anything specific as long as the general issues involve justice, fairness, and treating people right. They can help you get an effective petition written and make it go viral on the web so that it gets far more supporters. Through them, I have personally signed many petitions that I would otherwise never have heard of, and quite a lot of them end up succeeding. I would absolutely go this route if it were my brother. I wish the best for both of you.