An Alabama woman was left to die after suffering from pneumonia. AL.com reports that the woman’s father issued a lawsuit against the jail after their nurses failed to treat his daughter.
34-year-old Autumn Harris died in the Walker County Jail after being incarcerated for three weeks for failing to appear at a hearing in a misdemeanor theft case.
According to the suit, Harris received no treatment for her pneumonia from healthcare workers inside the jail, despite disclosing the diagnosis at the time of her arrest.
“Pneumonia is one of the most common respiratory infections in the United States,” Harris’ attorney Justin Jones said. “It is one of the most common reasons for hospitalizations. It’s a killer and yet it’s very treatable. In this case, there was a systemic failure from start to finish to apply well-established standard of health care to a patient. Those failures ultimately caused her death.”
Harris was diagnosed with pneumonia on Oct. 31 and was prescribed antibiotics. She was arrested about two weeks later and she gave jail officials her medication when she was booked. Without access to her medication, her condition got worse over the next three weeks.
“On Dec. 1, 2018, she reported shortness of breath and died four days later after other inmates reported she was unable to sit or stand. She also lost control of her bodily functions and urinated on herself, according to witness statements,” AL.com’s report stated.
