Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Texas Gay Man, 32, Dies in Custody After Being Denied Medication | Advocate.com


Although this appears to be a jailing issue it is omportant to note what is stated about sudden withdrwal form Xanax:
After checking himself in to Galveston County Jail to serve a 30-day sentence for driving while intoxicated, Jacobs began suffering seizures after his fourth day in custody. On his seventh day in jail, he was found unresponsive and taken to the University of Texas-Medical Branch in Galveston, where he later died. How he was initially discovered as unresponsive is unclear as police officials have different versions, including reports that medical personnel found him in his cell and that he collapsed when he was being administered medication.

“Normally what happens if they are under a doctor's care, we have our doctors on site elevate the inmate and make decisions on the medications they are going to administer," Galveston's Chief Deputy of Corrections Mary Johnson told About. "I do know some psych drugs and stuff they don’t allow, some they won’t prescribe.” The Galveston County Jail was cited six years ago for "Not dispensing medications as ordered by a doctor."

Sudden cessation of Xanax is highly dangerous, and is known to lead to seizures. Jacobs's doctor said he had no history of seizures. Even so, Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochessett insists he died of natural causes, telling About, “I don’t know if the family is trying to throw some red flag into the air that we apparently did something to him — when he just died of natural causes in jail.”

Diane Jacobs, the young man's mother, said she called the prison before her son's death and informed medical officials of his need for Xanax but, "they told me there was no doctor there to help him." 
Texas Gay Man, 32, Dies in Custody After Being Denied Medication | Advocate.com

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