18 yr old son died

My 18 yr old son died from Leukemia june 2, 2002. He was diagnosed 9/10/01.
He was in the company of a kid who broke the law and was put in jail. He did not call me due to embarrassment. He was sick and begged to go to hospital. He had nose bleeds constantly. I think they took him to hosp. once and nothing was done. On 9/09/01 he threw up blood and was then taken to another hosp. They then diagnosed him, but by then he only had 4 pints of blood in his body..almost dead, literally hours from death. His white blood cells were allowed in this this time to number in the hundred thousands, which pretty much insured he would not live in remission. I saw my son the day he was brought in, he was so yellow/white, I cannot even imagine a professional nurse from that jail couldn't see somehings wrong. Especially with his constant requests to go to the hospital.
I want to sue the jail and make sure nobody elses child sits in a cell and bleeds to death. They even chained him to the hospital bed for 2 days, he was about dead! Where was he going? The charges against him were dropped. A video of the crime actually showed his non participation. There is alot more, but from this do you think I have a case? And what attorney do I get to go against the city?
Thanks

Dear Teribelle,

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your son!

I have 3 children of my own and I could not possibly imagine the pain that a mother must have to endure with having to experience such a loss.

Especially, when this loss happens litterally at the hands of another.

Not to mention the fact that your son's death occurred it seems, at the hands of the very people whom are employed by the City,(and our tax payer dollars) as their Modo says "To Protect and To Serve" !!

In light of the fact that I have not been privey to any of the facts surrounding your son's death, this is only my opinion and is not to be construed in any other way.

In my opinion, it seems as though your son's life was in the hands of the police department/jail facility.

From reading your post to me, It seems as though they failed your son costing him his life and the ongoing pain and suffering that you as his mother will have to endure.

I hope that with help, or on your own you can acquire some life essential tools in which to use to copewith this tragidity and to lesson the emotional and physical effects that you might potentially have on you.

I would be more than willing to know more information/facts surrounding your case.

The following are just some of the facts that I need to know in order to effectuate my thoughts and opinion on the matter. Also, please include any other relevant facts you feel that I might need to know.

1. I will be looking forward to hearing from you!

2. I first need to know what city this took place in?

3. What were the charges that they held him on?

4. Did they ever take him to a City Hospital? Or was the
jail hospital the only one they took him to both times?



Sincerely,

2TRUST

2trust

Thanks so much for your reply, I have been trying to not let this stage of this nightmare overcome me. It has literally taken me over a year to refrain from killing myself. I am on 3-4 medications for my nerves and sanity.
He was in Winston-Salem Jail (NC) They, I believe took him to NC baptist hospital, sometime in the 1st weeks he was there in jail. Apparently, they did nothing) He was in the infirmary at the jail for alot of his stay, I believe.
They had a lockdown, I think, before and refused to take him to infirmary until it ended, 3 days, I think.
He told me he begged to go to a hospital. The Dr told me, from the onset of Leukemia to he was diagnosed, 9/10/01, was only approx 6 weeks. (believe it or not) It was acute Lymphoctic Leukemia, life expectancy without treatment weeks to 3 months.

I don't know what the charges were. A friend of his robbed a carwash change machine while Jimmy washed his truck, then left together. From what I heard there was never any evidence my kid knew what happened. There was a video camera that got his license plate #.
My kid was on probation for some other stupid thing, I guess that's why the jail.
He was 'slow', not an intelligent boy. At 18 years old, I cannot believe they didn't get in touch with me. 18 shm18, he was still a kid!
He told them he was having the nosebleeds, his clothes at the hospital had blood on them. Then the charges were dropped or postponed and we didn't hear anymore about them. They even asked him if he would testify against the other kid and he said he would. I am not saying he was this innocent child, but he did not deserve to lay there and bleed to death either. I want to bring about change. I want never for another scared kid to lay in jail and lose their life, never another Mother live with the guilt I live with that I wasn't there to save him, like I'm supposed to.

If the nurse in the jail saw what I saw, and she had to, before he was taken to hospital, then she is an idiot! and not fit to work as a nurse anywhere. He was so white/yello, he was almost green!

I am begging for help. I am afraid of fighting the city, the jail, the cops, whoever it is, that is responsible for neglecting the medical needs of a kid. It was petty crime, even murderers don't die of neglect.
Thanks for listening and thanks again for your words and your help.
Sincerely
Teri

Teri,

You do not need to be afraid to fight the City Officials, The System, Officers, Hospitals, etc., !

This is why we have attorneys and that is for them to contend with the battle in pursuit of justice!!

Innocent child or not, I do not believe that they have the discretion as to when or how inmates receive needed medical attention no matter what kind of a crime they have committed.

They do not have the right to decide if another human being will receive medical treatment in a life or death situation.

Your childs life was in their hands, I believe, the moment they incarcerated him and had the duty and responsibility to ensure that his medical needs were met.

They are the one's it sounds like who have committed a crime. They are the one's who have your son's blood on their hands.

Regardless of the fact that he had a terminal illness, he could have had another day or weeks to say his goodbyes to his loved one's. This we will unfortunately never know because they did not give him a proper medical evaualtion or potential treatment in which to prolong his life another day or weeks. (As to the medical evaluation, I am only assuming it was not done correctly, due to the fact that I have not seen any documentation).

First, you need to ASAP get any and all medical records from them. This will also benefit you for when you seek out legal representation so that you can have all the needed documentation in hand for a proper review of your potential wrongful death case.

You need to follow through with this for your son's sake. As well as your own.

By you paving the path other mother's will have a somewhat easier less painful fight because you will have already fought the difficult fights for them by setting the stones making this path for yourself and your son's rights.

You not only will be seeking justice for your son and yourself, but in fact, you will be seeking justice for others as well.

You stated in your post that you did not want another mother to experience the same tragidity that you have. The truth is unless you pursue this and pave the way making it easier for others who will inevitably be following you, this will continue. This also should be brought to the attention of the media.

By each stone you place on your path in pursuit of humanity and your rights, as well as your son's rights, you will at least be making it easier for the other mother's who will be following your same foot steps.

2TRUST

I thank you so much, I almost cried, but I bucked up and will try to continue to be the bulldog as I fight for this. I have no money, of course, 9 months of his illness and the last year staring at the walls has emptied savings, plus I've had to sell almost everything I had.
Do I have to pay for an attorney or will this be like a personal injury case?
What attorney do you recommend. I'm afraid of the city attorney's not wanting to make enemies with the jail or the county, etc.
Thanks again, I appreciate anything you are kind enought to suggest.
Teribelle

Hi,

It's okay to cry, it's part of the healing process but you just really need to know when it's time to break and when it's not. The time when it's not okay is when you need to be doing the necessary footwork insofaras gathering all documentation, getting names, dates, keeping accurrate notes etc.

I figured you did not have any money left as I am also in the same position with my divorce proceedings and believe I know what it is like to be financially, emotionally and physically broken down, what I am trying to say is that I've earned my seat.

Being that your case is potential wrongful death case it will be a contingency fee agreement. You will not have to put up any money at all not even for a consultation.

I do not know any attorneys where you live. I would suggest that you contact the local bar association for your state and get several referral names of attorneys in your area.