Inmate Denied Hospital Care for Compound Fracture

I met a man in part of the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) that was denied hospital care for a compound fracture just because he had gone to the hospital twice already in the previous 60 days for unrelated reasons. He showed me his hand on which one knuckle had been stitched and he explained how the bone was sticking out. Then he said that instead of taking him to the hospital, they just stitched his hand shut at the jail. I personally overheard several visits paid to his cell by medical staff. They told him that he had a broken hand, promised him x-rays, and warned him not to let anything come into contact with it because of bacteria saying "there is a lot of bacteria down here." Usually when jail staff talk about bacteria they are talking about MRSA. It is not medically sound to address the needs of one injury based on the past treatment of unrelated injuries. That is just common sense that one need not ask a doctor to explain.These events took place in May of 2017 and the inmate has since been released. I hope he found the help he needed.#multnomahcountyjail #multnomahcountyhealthdepartment