danielle
11-21-2002, 05:23 PM
Inmate's death report changed - Florida
By Jon Ostendorff
POSTED: Nov. 19, 2002 10:49 p.m.
MURPHY - A Cherokee County medical examiner on Tuesday changed his opinion of how a diabetic inmate died in the county jail after talking to the state's chief medical examiner.
Christopher Lee Wood died a natural death on Sept. 5 from complications with diabetes, said Dr. Hunter Hansen. In an Oct. 17 report, Hansen told the state Wood's death was accidental because the 26-year-old Andrews resident did not get treatment for his diabetes while in jail.
"The reason (for the change) is diabetes is the cause," Hansen said Tuesday after talking with Dr. John Butts, the state's chief medical examiner. "Whether or not there are other circumstances, that is for the courts to argue. This does not preclude any court action."
The change will be recorded on a supplemental cause of death form and placed in Wood's autopsy file at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill. Wood's state- issued death certificate will show his death was natural.
Wood's parents, who pleaded for help with jailers and EMS for several hours the day their son died, said they are disappointed with the change.
"It wasn't natural," said James Wood, Lee Wood's father. "It could have been prevented. They knew the condition he was in and they could have prevented his death."
Records and interviews show Wood had been off his diabetes medication for two days and was sick at least 24 hours before his death. Wood had been jailed Aug. 31 and was awaiting trial on felony charges of possession of marijuana and stolen goods. County records show the jail had purchased insulin for Wood.
The jail's operating procedure and state law says jailers and the sheriff are responsible for providing health care to inmates.
A civil lawsuit filed this month alleges Cherokee County Sheriff Alan Kilpatrick and Jail Administrator Judy Mason are responsible for Wood's death.
Randy Seago, a lawyer with the firm handling the civil case for the family of Lee Wood, said the cause of Wood's death is more important than the manner of death.
"That's really where the rubber meets the road," Seago said. "What's most important is they are correct about the medical process that ultimately caused Lee's death."
Butts, who oversees the state's medical examiners, characterized the change as a "bookkeeping issue" that has little to do with the events leading up to Wood's death. He said the change is based on his office's definition of accidental: a death caused by an external force. Wood's death, Butts said, appears natural because he died from diabetes, an internal cause. Homicide would only be used if someone had acted in a deliberate manner to end a life.
"We use the word `accident' in a more specific meaning," Butts said. "An accident was the result of an external cause and it was not the result of one person's actions."
Medical examiners have five choices for the manner of death on the four-page form they use to report a death investigation: natural, accident, homicide, suicide and pending.
The report is a preliminary study used to request a full autopsy. It provides basic information including the date, time and place of the death and a probable cause of the death.
The full autopsy on Wood's body has not been completed.
By Jon Ostendorff
POSTED: Nov. 19, 2002 10:49 p.m.
MURPHY - A Cherokee County medical examiner on Tuesday changed his opinion of how a diabetic inmate died in the county jail after talking to the state's chief medical examiner.
Christopher Lee Wood died a natural death on Sept. 5 from complications with diabetes, said Dr. Hunter Hansen. In an Oct. 17 report, Hansen told the state Wood's death was accidental because the 26-year-old Andrews resident did not get treatment for his diabetes while in jail.
"The reason (for the change) is diabetes is the cause," Hansen said Tuesday after talking with Dr. John Butts, the state's chief medical examiner. "Whether or not there are other circumstances, that is for the courts to argue. This does not preclude any court action."
The change will be recorded on a supplemental cause of death form and placed in Wood's autopsy file at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill. Wood's state- issued death certificate will show his death was natural.
Wood's parents, who pleaded for help with jailers and EMS for several hours the day their son died, said they are disappointed with the change.
"It wasn't natural," said James Wood, Lee Wood's father. "It could have been prevented. They knew the condition he was in and they could have prevented his death."
Records and interviews show Wood had been off his diabetes medication for two days and was sick at least 24 hours before his death. Wood had been jailed Aug. 31 and was awaiting trial on felony charges of possession of marijuana and stolen goods. County records show the jail had purchased insulin for Wood.
The jail's operating procedure and state law says jailers and the sheriff are responsible for providing health care to inmates.
A civil lawsuit filed this month alleges Cherokee County Sheriff Alan Kilpatrick and Jail Administrator Judy Mason are responsible for Wood's death.
Randy Seago, a lawyer with the firm handling the civil case for the family of Lee Wood, said the cause of Wood's death is more important than the manner of death.
"That's really where the rubber meets the road," Seago said. "What's most important is they are correct about the medical process that ultimately caused Lee's death."
Butts, who oversees the state's medical examiners, characterized the change as a "bookkeeping issue" that has little to do with the events leading up to Wood's death. He said the change is based on his office's definition of accidental: a death caused by an external force. Wood's death, Butts said, appears natural because he died from diabetes, an internal cause. Homicide would only be used if someone had acted in a deliberate manner to end a life.
"We use the word `accident' in a more specific meaning," Butts said. "An accident was the result of an external cause and it was not the result of one person's actions."
Medical examiners have five choices for the manner of death on the four-page form they use to report a death investigation: natural, accident, homicide, suicide and pending.
The report is a preliminary study used to request a full autopsy. It provides basic information including the date, time and place of the death and a probable cause of the death.
The full autopsy on Wood's body has not been completed.