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November 21, 2009

Inmate claims he was denied treatment

z Records show work-release prisoner had pneumonia.



THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A 37-year-old inmate said a guard denied him access to emergency treatment and he suffered for days before being hospitalized with pneumonia and a 103-degree fever.

A spokesman for the sheriff’s department said prisoners at Elkhart County Work Release Center in Goshen can be provided with an ambulance if they say they need one.

Paul Hertel told The South Bend Tribune more emphasis should be placed on the care of sick inmates. He was serving a 30-day work release sentence for a probation violation when he became sick.

“I was very, very sick,” Hertel said. “It crossed my mind to kick the back door and leave. ... I was also worried that I could spread my illness to other inmates.”

Hertel said he began feeling ill Oct. 19 and by Oct. 22 he could barely move. He said he asked then to be taken to an emergency room but was denied. He was hospitalized at Goshen General Hospital from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4.

Hertel showed the newspaper documentation he filled out Oct. 22, indicating one of the officers would not let him go to the emergency room unless his case manager signed off. However, Hertel said, when another guard started her shift Oct. 23 and was told of Hertel’s illness, she was able to start the process to get him released.

Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Trevor Wendzonka said those in the work release program are responsible for obtaining medical care and the jail’s general population has access to nurses.

“They are required to report their conditions,” Wendzonka said. “If they want an ambulance called, they can certainly get that.”

Doctors admitted Hertel with influenza symptoms, according to hospital records. Hertel was given Tamiflu, but a flu test ultimately came back negative. He said he was on a breathing machine from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1.

“We were worried that he could have died,” said his mother, Gina Piechocki.

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