Texas Jails and Prison: A Traveling Disease 2007-2008
Female Inmate MRSA
From Deanna's mother's perspective, Lara is deeply ashamed of the ignorance shown by the Texas inmate health system. Deanna is treated inhumanely, and Lara only imagines how other sick inmates feel who do not have family or friends watching over them. We pay attention. Do you? Pray for Deanna and the other inmates. Send letters. Do something. Whatever you do, don't ignore someone who's in the system. They need you.
The following is from a journal I kept for my cousin in TDCJ. Amy Brooks
Dallas County Jail Medical Requests Denied
Amy Brooks ~ cousin, author of journal
Aunt Lara ~ Deanna's Mother, custodian of Tori
Tori ~ Deanna's 1st born
Haily ~ Deanna's 1year old in foster care
Darlina Crowder ~ Attorney At Litem assigned for Deanna's CPS case
Sherry ~ Collin County Nurse
Lisa ~ another nurse at Collin County
INMATE
Deanna L Stone
SID #05549689 TDC Book #01450328
TDCJ Gatesville Unit
1401 State School Road
Gatesville, Texas 76599-2999
(254) 865-8431
Sunday July 15 2007 Deanna’s mother, Lara, visited her. She witnessed Deanna’s skin infections on her cheeks, chin, left under corner of mouth, and on lip/chin. Deanna said they removed Ambient from her medications, because they only give it to her for 30 days.
July 18, 2007Amy spoke with Deanna’s public defender in District 363. She said she had not seen Deanna in a month. She put in a request the following day for health care. Deanna’s report was returned to the lawyer with a healthy approval. The Attorney is hoping for SAFP? or Cornell Dallas County Judicial Treatment for her addiction problems.
July 18, 2007 Amy visited Deanna and saw sores all over Deanna's neck, chest, breast, ears, chin, mouth, and upper lip. Deanna said she hasn’t seen her attorney in almost 2months. The Inmate psychologist/doctor recommends Nexus treatment for her addiction problems - Nexus what what had resulted in Deanna's incarceration. Doctor gave her bactrum, a topical antibiotic.
September 16, 2007 Deanna had contracted M.R.S.A. within a month of her living in Dallas County Jail. She cried so long from her bi-polar side effects...for days, until finally another inmate punched her in the mouth, knocking her tooth out. The inmate never went to lockdown. Her tooth is still broken and is infected now.
The life of this 20something year old mother incarcerated is a most gross example of improper diagnosis of bipolar disorder. A most pressing concern for me is the negligence towards Deanna's obvious mental state. It needs to be addressed before she is sentenced on Friday, September 21, 2007.
But we have a more immediate focus, which is Dallas County's health concerns and disease control. These are our immediate focus.
Deanna's incarceration could have been prevented. Her skin disease could have been prevented, if not controlled and treated after a six-month infection. But the shortcomings in both examples have made the public aware of the true horror of disease spreading through not only throughout Dallas County Jail, but also Texas State Prison and Collin County systems.
September 21, 2007 When visiting my cousin, I met a guy who asked what I was doing with a large stack of binders & papers. I told him I was investigating Lew Sterritt’s Dallas County Jail for health conditions. He seemed ashamed, and lowered his tone when he admitted he was incarcerated in April 24th-26th of this year of 2007. I asked to take his story down, and he agreed.
Male Inmate MRSA
This is that male’s description of the Dallas County inmate health condition:
The infirmary had given him one (1) injection 'for prevention of tuberculosis'. He described walking into the intake center where there were no ceilings. Ceiling cables and vents hung everywhere above.
All the inmates were talking about M.R.S.A, which they described to him as "a puss-filled acne or rash.”
There were 24 male inmates for 12 bunk beds. There was one (1) shower for all of them. He said the inmates did “disgusting” things in the shower, things I didn’t choose to ask about.
If you didn’t have money, the government provided a small thing of soap that he said didn’t clean anything because it was watered down. If you had money, a sample bottle of soap was purchased for $2.50 or so. If an inmate had a rash, the other 23 inmates could see it in 1 the room they lived in together.
He describes an infected inmate who had a 'zit' filled with puss. It eventually ruptured and oozed blood and puss. The infirmary dressed the wound with bandage wrap gauze, which didn’t absorb much. He said the gauze was blood stained for days in the room, as more of the man’s rash appeared on his neck and arms.
The other inmates would get mad if they saw an inmate infected with this rash. They didn’t want to get it, so they ganged up on the infected individual, beating the crap out of him till he was removed from the cell. No one wanted to get infected! The men knew they could get hepatitis just from a punch wound, but it was a risk they had to take because they knew he might be in their cell long enough for them to get the rash.
It was a health decision, and it was unanimous, just not by the state.
September 27, 2007 Deanna's cousin, Amy visited Deanna at the Collin County Correctional Facility. Deanna wore a long sleeve thermal top under her jumpsuit. Rashes are around her arms, but she keeps them covered. Deanna has sores between her breasts, on her face, neck, chin, behind her ear, and on her back that Amy saw today. Deanna said she was told she will see the psychiatrist, and is requesting to be put back on 2 medications that she was prescribed by the psychiatrist in Lew Sterritt Jail, Dallas County. Deanna said the facility was monitoring her records for a health investigation. The infirmary still refuses a swab test for her skin rash. Again, Deanna will be requesting a swab test on her next visit.
Her tooth, which was broken by another Dallas County inmate, needs to be treated. She is requesting antibiotics to fight any bacterial infection for her tooth. She has been in Collin County for 5 weeks without her complete bi-polar medication prescription. She was taken off her medications weeks prior to leaving Dallas County for her TDC transfer. She did enter the facility with booking numbers, and was immediately transferred to Collin County for missing a bench warrant that Dallas County ignored multiple times.
September 28, 2007 Amy mailed a HIPPA Act form to Deanna. It was not received over the last 2 weeks. Another 2 copies of the form were mailed Saturday September 29, 2007. The HIPPA form was required by the Inmate Infirmary for Deanna’s medical history to be disclosed to Amy. They will not disclose any information otherwise.
AMY'S NOTE: If you want any medical information about a patient (aka inmate) nurse staff tell you to get a HIPPA form- (Request for Access to Protected Health Information (18240) signed by the inmate, which releases their personal medical health records. BUT~ They won't give them the form and any mailed copies I sent to Deanna were never received. She kept asking for them, I kept sending them.
United States Department of Health and Human Services updated hipaa forms
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/September 29, 2007 That morning, Deanna was administered her medicine. Without gloves, they handed Deanna a high-blood pressure pill, tried to give her Triazadone, which Deanna refused because it is the wrong medication for the morning, as it is given at night. She was not given her Celexa, Benadryl, Benzoid steroid cream for her face for the last 2 days.
Deanna’s mother saw Deanna on her visitation at 7:30pm. She had open sores in her mouth and on her shoulders, in addition to what Amy has seen. She has an abscess is on her left jaw down to the chin.
Deanna placed multiple requests to see the infirmary. Sherry did not forward any requests to the physician’s assistant Lisa.
Deanna’s mother called Nurse Sherry to inform her that Deanna has an abscessed tooth and has requested antibiotics. Deanna’s mother called Lieutenant Stewart. He said he knew who Deanna was, and stated that "she has seen the doctor 3 times this week." The Lieutenant said the nurse saw Deanna Sept 28th. Deanna did not see the nurse nor the doctor. Dr. Woo did not see Deanna, but was scheduled and never seen.
After Deanna’s mother made many calls to the department, and Deanna made many infirmary requests throughout the day, Nurse Sherry saw Deanna after 8pm on Saturday, September 29, 2007. Since no doctors were present to supervise, the nurse could only re-instate Deanna’s previous prescriptions from the Dallas County psychiatrist.
Deanna called her mother via phone later that evening to tell her that the nurse had given her antibiotics after seeing sores inside her mouth. The nurse re-instated Deanna’s medications. After writing a bill for services, Sherry tore up the bill, and said she shouldn’t have to pay. Deanna did not get a copy of the medications or the evaluation.
Dallas County acknowledged Deanna’s rash, prescribing a topical antibiotic. Collin County treats it with Benadryl.
Again, M.R.S.A. is a very serious bacterial infection resistant to most antibiotics, including a weak topical agent. In order for infection and future infections to be quarantined and controlled, guilty parties responsible for ignoring health concerns should be removed.
In both cases, Dallas and Collin County witnessed the skin rashes. Without the inmates’ mother’s involvement, her infection would have gone untreated, ultimately resulting in leukemia.
There is another inmate in Deanna’s cell who uses the same telephone to make calls. Deanna says the girl seems mentally challenged and is very infected with the same rash as Deanna, which covers the side of her face and cheek.
I am aware the disease is one of many in the inmate system. But, if a certified doctor was on-staff full time, they could have a capacity to correct the problem with pharmaceuticals, which help quarantine. A proper swab test sent to a certified laboratory should be required to determine Deanna’s state of infection, as well to inform the health department about disease for a control method. The current state’s plan is not being applied.
Sunday, September 30, 2007 PA Lisa found out Deanna was pulled to the infirmary after she left her shift the night before. Lisa pulled Deanna and said she had never been told that Deanna had requested to be seen on Saturday. The nurse had given Deanna the wrong antibiotic, so she changed the prescription.
Lisa saw Deanna 2 more times before the end of her shift at 12:30pm.
When Lisa left her shift, Nurse Sherry had Deanna come into the infirmary’s isolation unit, where she sat all day and was not given dinner at 5pm.
Deanna cried until 7:45pm before they fed her. They brought an apple. She has a tooth abscess and cannot eat an apple. She ate the bologna sandwich.
They kept her in the infirmary until the next morning, when they placed her into a different cell pod. Again, they did not give her the Celexa that day. She cried all day. She’s still crying.
Deanna has a medical tab for her infirmary pull which was not requested, nor was it a punishment for any action. The infirmary still refuses to test her M.R.S.A. Her white blood cell count would indicate the rate of infection.
Monday, October 1, 2007 Deanna called her mother. She can’t eat normal food, now that she has an abscess in her mouth. She cries obsessively due to her severe bi-polar mind with a lack of proper medication. Dallas County Jail or Collin County to blame?
The following is an update to Deanna Stone’s current medical case.
There is a direct link missing between certified medial teams capable of diagnosing illnesses, and the state’s required intake procedure for inmates. My personal question is: where is the doctor?
Real inmates should serve proper sentencing for a crime, but most of the infected I mention were/are still processing through a trial or sentencing. Months later if left untreated, inmates will take the disease home to their families.
In Dallas County, inmates are given tuberculosis prevention, but other underlying issues like long-term mental disorders or a common rash are rarely addressed.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007 Colin County Jail Evaluating MRSA:
When I first addressed concerns about MRSA with the jail's infirmary, they placed my cousin in lockdown as punishment for my inquiry. They said they didn't want the health department on their back.
In order to have MRSA addressed in the jail system, I called the Collin County Sheriffs office, Dallas FBI and 5 departments of the Texas Health and Human Services. I filed 2 formal complaints which were ignored through the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Deanna Stone is finally addressed for her staff infection? No.
The 3rd party medical service company for Collin County Jail, Naphcare Inc. returned my call. They pulled my cousin in for evaluation yesterday with the medical director and doctor.
The problem with diagnosing her is: She has been given topical antibiotics, which keep her wound/rash clusters dry. In order to get a culture of MRSA, a weeping wound, or jell filled cyst needs to be cultured and sent to a lab for diagnosis to confirm and report the stage of infection. I told them she has an abscess on her chin, which should be sufficient for swab testing.
I have notified another inmate's lawyer that his client has the same infection/rash and should be checked. That woman is mentally challenged, but her family has been notified today. I hope this will keep MRSA quarantined, at least, in Collin County before its too late for the population. In particular, the Dallas County Jail is an infestation of multiple diseases…spreading rapidly.
March 21, 2008 Dee is still serving time in Dayton, Texas. She said she has a negative pap smear and they don’t tell her why. She has stopped communicating with me about her health, for fear of prison abuse. She must be miserable.
I'll continue updating this journal until Deanna Stone is released from jail. She is currently serving in Plano Texas and will probably be transferred to another jail for 1 year until her parole hearing. I'm following my cousin's records for health, legal CPS matters and her criminal sentencing. Dee is not only my cousin, but the perfect example of a young woman sick mentally and physically in the system.
Even worse, the state could have taken medical responsibility after her medical records, medications, and doctor’s in house proved she was bipolar. Instead, Deanna was branded and eventually CPS stalked for her child before family could do anything.
Deanna has been processed through 2 counties for her problems. But, when the records trace back to the beginning of her downfall, I found records of state employees harassing and stalking Dee. For the one mistake she made, the police lied over twenty times in order to arrest her.
If Doctors and nurses knew she was bi-polar and not medicated, then who's responsible? What's worse? Being bi-polar, or being ignored and taken advantage of- because you're bipolar?
I found she was medicated on legal speed, yet dropped by insurance companies after she lost a good job. She tested clean for a drug test, then a few months later she's arrested for speed through an entrapment case in Allen Police Department?
Deanna's Constitutional rights have been ignored. Oh well, she's an addict anyway...Right? No!
Deanna did NOT test positive for drugs since her arrest. She DID however, have proof that police and CPS raided her home and had her sign papers saying she had released her infant child to them. The papers had no date nor person assigned, nor a case number. Just a piece of paper without any certified proof.
Deanna’s infant is still in foster care. Dee recently completed her 1st Christian-based 12 step class, and continues working in jail programs for her addictions. Although in jail for a 10-year sentence, Dee hopes to be released and find a good home, job and maybe someday, if possible, be reunited with her children again.
Amy
MEDICAL NOTES ON MRSA
Antibiotic Resistance Profiles of MRSA:1
* All B-lactam antibiotics
* 94% resistant to clindamycin and erythomycin
* 89% resistant to ciprofloxacin
* 56% resistant to trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole
* 33% resistant to tetracycline
* 3% resistant to rifampin
* 3% resistant to fusidic acid
* 2% resistant to mupirocinIf SA bacteria are able to enter the bloodstream (bacteraemia) they can affect almost any part of the body. They can cause:
* septicaemia (blood poisoning),
* septic shock (widespread infection of the blood that leads to a fall in blood pressure and organ failure),
* severe joint problems (septic arthritis),
* bone marrow infection (osteomyelitis),
* internal abscesses anywhere within the body,
* inflammation of the tissues that surround the brain and spinal cord (meningitis),
* lung infection (pneumonia), and
* infection of the heart lining (endocarditis).
SA bacteria can also cause scalded skin syndrome and, very occasionally, toxic shock syndrome.
Severe Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Community-Acquired Pneumonia Associated With Influenza—Louisiana and Georgia, December 2006–January 2007
JAMA. 2007;297:2070-2072. MMWR. 2007;56:325-329 (1 table omitted)
Staphylococcus aureus infection has been reported infrequently as a cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and typically has been associated with influenza virus infection or influenza-like illness (ILI).*
During the 2003-04 influenza season, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) gained attention as a cause of 15 cases of influenza-associated CAP.{dagger}1 No formal surveillance has been conducted, and few additional cases of MRSA CAP were reported to CDC during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 influenza seasons.
However, in January 2007, CDC received reports of 10 cases of severe MRSA CAP, including six deaths, among previously healthy children and adults in Louisiana and Georgia during December 2006–January 2007. These were the first reported cases of severe MRSA CAP during the 2006-07 influenza season in the two states, and 10 was a higher number than expected for the 2-month period.
A case of severe MRSA CAP was defined as pneumonia requiring hospitalization or resulting in the death of a patient from whom a specimen (i.e., sterile site or sputum sample) yielded MRSA when collected <48 hours after hospitalization or arrival at an emergency department (ED).
Association with influenza was determined by either a positive result on a laboratory test or a diagnosis of ILI. This report describes three of the MRSA CAP cases as examples and summarizes all 10 of the reported cases. These cases underscore the need for health-care providers to be vigilant, especially during the influenza season, for severe cases of CAP that might be caused by MRSA.
This is the best/ updated site for current cases of MRSA spreading...
There's at least 1 post a day. It's sad. ~Amy Brooks
http://www.mrsaresources.com/mrsa-guestmap/#comments
If anyone has a story to share about the justice of Dallas County, you can contact myself,
Kay Lee, Sharif, Mary's husband, Quill or Deanna's cousin, Amy."Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both sides."
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
