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A Carbon County, PA inmate was feared to have a heart attack and was flown by helicopter
to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown. He turned out to have had seizures and the bill
to the county, after a 60% reduction, was almost $44,000. Commissioner Charles Getz said
the county should be able to attach the costs to inmates ''so they follow them for the
rest of their lives.'' He made a motion to send state and federal representatives a
Carbon County commissioners, who have prided themselves on keeping the county fiscally sound in a difficult economy, railed Thursday about having to pay a $44,000 medical bill for a county prison inmate feared to be having a heart attack. ...
The costs included $32,045 for the hospital and $10,985 for transport by medical helicopter, both of which represent bills after a 60-percent cost reduction was negotiated, [County Commission Chair] William O'Gurek said.
''That's what the taxpayers are absorbing,'' O'Gurek said. Ambulance responses added $900, commissioners said. The bill didn't include pay for personnel who accompanied and guarded the inmate, nor ''associated costs,'' commissioners said. ...
Commissioner Charles Getz said the county should be able to attach the costs to inmates ''so they follow them for the rest of their lives.'' He made a motion to send state and federal representatives a letter of complaint. It passed unanimously. ...
letter of complaint. It passed unanimously. ''We have people in our county home who,
when they don't have anything left, their homes are attached,'' Getz said. ''But we have
to take care of these prisoners like they're little babies.''
Excuse me, Charlie, but this is just the type of mentality that is so common among
politicians towards prisoners. The next thing that we know, they'll be using the bully
pulpit to get such a law to stick inmates with gigantic medical bills, against people who
they know are about as able to fight back as children. This proposal must not go
unchallenged. First of all, it begs the question of why the bill was so high. Since it
had a 60% reduction, the original bill was almost $110,000! The mentality of the Carbon
County Commissioners lets the system off the hook. This wouldn't even be an issue if we
had a national health-care system, but no, the medical industry wants to preserve the
status quo so that it can continue to make obscene profits.
When will the politicians get it that you can't take blood from a stone? They have enough
trouble collecting room and board charges that can quickly add up to thousands of dollars,
so how would they expect to collect medical bills of tens of thousands? If I wanted to
pay to be treated like shit, I know a local woman who is a part-time dominatrix. Many of
the inmates wound up where they are in the first place since they had no money, but the
politicians want to keep piling up layers of fines, costs, and fees. These policies are
much more effective at destroying defendants' credit than collecting thousands of dollars.
The way that this matter is being handled makes ME livid. The inmate in question had
seizures, which are serious in their own right.
BDH
Thanks for sending this. Like you say, national health care will make this matter moot. But until then 'd like to scream with you at the politician who's grandstanding here, one Charles Getz. When a person is incarcerated the county (or state or federal government) is responsible for that person's health and well-being -- obviously, inarguably, and period. Getz is of course a vile bastard, but I'd add that kudos are due the guards for getting the inmate the prompt medical attention he needed. I've read recurring and not all that rare horror stories from other jails and prisons (like this one and this one, just from the past few days) where guards have utterly ignored inmates' medical needs, sometimes with fatal results.
