Three More Employees Placed on Leave Over Prisoner’s Death in April
DRAPER, UTAH – July 2, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – The Utah Department of Corrections announced that it has placed three more employees on administrative leave in regards to the death of Ramon C. Estrada, 62, a Utah State Prison inmate who died April 5th, 2015 of an apparent heart attack due to renal failure.
A preliminary review by Utah Department of Correction’s Law Enforcement Bureau had indicated that the lack of dialysis treatment could possibly be a contributing factor in Estrada’s death.
He was scheduled to receive kidney dialysis in the prison’s on-site treatment center in the Olympus facility on Friday but the contracted provider for dialysis treatment at the prison failed to show up for both the Friday and Saturday appointments.
After Estrada’s death, six other inmates who also did not get their needed dialysis were transported to University Medical Center for evaluation. Two of the inmates checked out OK and were returned to the prison while the other four were admitted for treatment. All four have since returned to the prison.
Brooke Adams, public information officer for the Utah Department of Corrections issued a press release stating: “the delayed response in ensuring that the inmates’ received needed medical care is unacceptable and the Department’s internal investigation will include a review of all aspects of the situation, including the response by its medical leadership and staff, actions of its contract provider and an analysis of what measures need to be taken to prevent this from happening again.”
The medical examiner has still not completed their autopsy report on Estrada however as of the date of the latest press release issued today July 2, 2015.
The employees that have been placed on leave worked for the prison’s clinical services bureau and were on duty April 3rd to April 5th, 2015. The status of the department employees is still under review and their names have not been released.
The Department’s Clinical Services Bureau director was placed on administrative leave immediately after the incident and will remain on leave pending the outcome of that investigation and the department has taken immediate action to improve communication with the dialysis contract provider.
In late April the UDOC hired Wellcon, a nationally recognized corrections health care consulting firm based in Utah, to conduct a thorough investigation into Estrada’s death, the prisons dialysis program, the overall health care delivery system at the prison as it relates to dialysis patients, mental health issues, and to make recommendations on how to improve these programs.
Estrada had been incarcerated since Aug. 10, 2005, on a rape conviction. He had a parole date of April 21, 2015. The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service had an active detainer for Estrada, a Mexican National.
You May Also Like
|
|
|
|
