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Inmate pleads for deliverance from disease death sentenceI'm presently infected withhepatitis C; a disease that could result in my death and a disease that the Indiana Department of Correction refuses to treat.The DOC policy is to wait until a prisoner’s enzyme levels double for a one year period before any form of treatment is even considered. The disease has to mutate,»forcing the liver towards a crisis position before any form of treatment is considered—much less administered. In most cases, even when a prisoner’s enzyme levels have surpassed what is considered normal and doubled within the one year time frame, no form of treatment is initiated. The cost of treating this disease is quite expensive and the budgetary concerns for the treatment of this disease override the the concerns of saving a prisoner’s life, even when the DOC knows there is a cure for this disease.I would like to know why I’m being forced to wait until this disease starts to mutate and place my life in a crisis situation before I can receive the medication nowavailable that has proven to have a high cure rate when the disease is in the early stages?I and other prisoners within the DOC, are being denied proper medical treatment and are being forced to face death because of budgetary concerns. In truth, it appears money is more important than the lives of those who are incarcerated. This should not be the case. This is a form of cruel and unusual punishment and is in violation of the Indiana and U.S. constitutions. I was sentenced and incarcerated to a term of years— not the possible death sentence Prison Health Services and the DOC have placed upon me by not treating this disease.At present, I’m receiving no treatment at all and being offered excuses by Prison Health Services and the DOC medical director that medication is not yet available—which is totally false. I became infected with this disease while incarcerated within the Indiana Department of Correction. If I infect any person in society with hepatitis C uponmy release, the DOC surely will be held liable for allowing me to be released with the disease when it could have been cured. This isn’t my problem alone—this applies to every prisoner incarcerated within the DOC who will be released with the disease. The cost to society will be much greater at that point.I am sending you this letter with the hope that someone will look into this matter and demand that the standard policy that the DOC is now applying will be changed and that I, and others incarcerated with hepatitis C, receive proper medical treatment before we all die an unjust death. Before I sent you this letter I brought my concerns to the director of healthcare for the DOC and Prison Health Services all to no avail.I want to live just like any other human being and this letter is a plea for my life. Please don’t let me and others in my condition die when there is a cure available. Isn’t a life worth the cost of treating this disease?— William Holly
Newspaper Details
Fort Wayne Frost Illustrated
Fort Wayne, Indiana, US
Wed, Jun 19, 2002
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Monroe C.
IN, USA 14 Dec 2020
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