08-12-2009, 04:17 PM
A North Fort Myers man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Lee County Sheriff's Office and Prison Health Services, claiming that in 2007 he was denied medical treatment and deteriorated from healthy to paralyzed.
Brett Allen Fields, 26, was booked into the Lee County Jail on July 6, 2007 charged with violating an injunction, criminal mischief and a probation violation. His lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, legal costs and a violation of his constitutional rights.
According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday afternoon in federal, Fields requested medical attention for a wound in his left arm on July 10, 2007. A nurse identified his wound as a boil caused by Staphylococci and tried to treat it with a medication called Bactrim.
Two weeks later, Fields filled out an Inmate Medical Request Form stating the medication didn't work, but he claims his request was ignored.
By August 2007, Fields began to suffer from severe back pains and weakness in his lower extremities and that he had not urinated in days, the lawsuit states.
On Aug. 7, 2007, a nurse examined Fields and scheduled an appointment for the next morning. On Aug. 8, 2007, he was confined to a wheelchair because he could no longer walk. The physician's assistant ordered Tylenol and returned Fields to his cell.
The next morning, Fields tried to use the toilet by dragging himself across the floor. He then realized that all the muscles in his anus stopped working and his rectum was protruding through his anus and was visible outside his body, a condition called rectal prolapse, the lawsuit states.
Cellmates, seeing Fields' condition, summoned employees, who pushed Fields' rectum back into his body and removed him from the cell. Twelve hours later, a doctor examined Fields, who was taken to Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center.
Medical staff diagnosed Fields with MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and he underwent surgery.
According to mayoclinic.com, MRSA is a strain of bacteria that is resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. It can be fatal.
According to the lawsuit, Fields still suffers partial paralysis in both legs despite two years of physical therapy.
"Fields' now permanent spinal injury could have easily been avoided had defendants not been deliberately indifferent to Fields' obvious serious medical needs during his incarceration and provided him with basic medical care," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants intentionally refused to provide and in fact did deny Fields minimally adequate medical care and treatment."
The lawsuit claims that denial violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
Brett Allen Fields, 26, was booked into the Lee County Jail on July 6, 2007 charged with violating an injunction, criminal mischief and a probation violation. His lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, legal costs and a violation of his constitutional rights.
According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday afternoon in federal, Fields requested medical attention for a wound in his left arm on July 10, 2007. A nurse identified his wound as a boil caused by Staphylococci and tried to treat it with a medication called Bactrim.
Two weeks later, Fields filled out an Inmate Medical Request Form stating the medication didn't work, but he claims his request was ignored.
By August 2007, Fields began to suffer from severe back pains and weakness in his lower extremities and that he had not urinated in days, the lawsuit states.
On Aug. 7, 2007, a nurse examined Fields and scheduled an appointment for the next morning. On Aug. 8, 2007, he was confined to a wheelchair because he could no longer walk. The physician's assistant ordered Tylenol and returned Fields to his cell.
The next morning, Fields tried to use the toilet by dragging himself across the floor. He then realized that all the muscles in his anus stopped working and his rectum was protruding through his anus and was visible outside his body, a condition called rectal prolapse, the lawsuit states.
Cellmates, seeing Fields' condition, summoned employees, who pushed Fields' rectum back into his body and removed him from the cell. Twelve hours later, a doctor examined Fields, who was taken to Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center.
Medical staff diagnosed Fields with MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and he underwent surgery.
According to mayoclinic.com, MRSA is a strain of bacteria that is resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. It can be fatal.
According to the lawsuit, Fields still suffers partial paralysis in both legs despite two years of physical therapy.
"Fields' now permanent spinal injury could have easily been avoided had defendants not been deliberately indifferent to Fields' obvious serious medical needs during his incarceration and provided him with basic medical care," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants intentionally refused to provide and in fact did deny Fields minimally adequate medical care and treatment."
The lawsuit claims that denial violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.