FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A former Fulton County inmate got emotional as he said jail staff ignored his pleas for help during a medical emergency.
He claims their inaction led to the amputation of both his legs and his fingers, Channel 2’s Michael Seiden reports.
More than a dozen supporters and attorneys stood by the side of Rashaad Muhammad as he recounted it Wednesday.
He was booked into the Fulton County Jail in August. He is now in a wheelchair months later after doctors were forced to amputate both his legs and parts of his hands.
“I suffered in this place. I asked them for something simple like my medicine,” Muhammad said.
He spoke outside the Fulton County Jail after a closed-door meeting with Sheriff Pat Labat.
He said from the moment he was arrested in August, he told jail staff he needed medication for a bladder condition. He claims those requests were ignored until his condition turned critical and he went into septic shock.
“All preventable! All they had to do was give him his antibiotics or get him to the hospital day two, day three,” attorney Ben Crump said.
Muhammad was eventually rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital where he fell into a coma.
Doctors were forced to amputate both of his legs and several of his fingers.
The sheriff’s office says, of the 188 days Muhammad was in custody, 177 were spent at Grady under hospital care, adding he was under the medical care of a private provider, NaphCare, while inside the jail.
NaphCare said in a statement that it remains committed to providing quality health care in “one of the most complex correctional environments in the country.”
“We are saddened by what Mr. Muhammad experienced. We have conducted a clinical review of the care provided and stand behind the treatment delivered by our team. This involved a medically complex patient, and we believe our staff acted appropriately and did everything within their power to provide care and support under difficult circumstances,” they said.
They said it would not be appropriate to comment further, due to the ongoing legal action.
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