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Legal Rights

minton

By minton
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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minton Contributor
minton
Posted

Okay so I watch alot of medical shows like House and also Law and Order type shows (I'm debating a career in medical field or a career in law haha). And I started thinking after switching between Law and Order and House marathons one day...

If a celiac goes to jail, what are their legal rights for keeping the gluten free diet? DO they even have rights to stay on a medical diet? What do they do for those circumstances? If a celiac or other food allergic individual goes to jail and gets "poisoned" by the food provided, do the have legal recourse? What about their families if the individual dies from such "dietary abuse?"

What about such an individual in a hospital if they were to get "poisoned" and either became very ill or died?

Or a psych ward? Or any other place of confinement?

It really makes me wonder...does the government have an obligation to those it holds in confinement to keep them alive and protected from quite literally poisoning?

I don't know, it really made me wonder...Does anyone know the answers to this stuff?

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mef Newbie
mef
Posted
Okay so I watch alot of medical shows like House and also Law and Order type shows (I'm debating a career in medical field or a career in law haha). And I started thinking after switching between Law and Order and House marathons one day...

If a celiac goes to jail, what are their legal rights for keeping the gluten free diet? DO they even have rights to stay on a medical diet? What do they do for those circumstances? If a celiac or other food allergic individual goes to jail and gets "poisoned" by the food provided, do the have legal recourse? What about their families if the individual dies from such "dietary abuse?"

What about such an individual in a hospital if they were to get "poisoned" and either became very ill or died?

Or a psych ward? Or any other place of confinement?

It really makes me wonder...does the government have an obligation to those it holds in confinement to keep them alive and protected from quite literally poisoning?

I don't know, it really made me wonder...Does anyone know the answers to this stuff?

From watching American Jail and visiting a maximum security prison, yes, they have a right to maintain a dietary requirement. You can watch TruTV/american jail and the arrestees always go through an intense medical screening. Does it mean it always is available? Probably not. You really don't want to stand out in jail...

If you are really interested, you would have to look at both state and federal law.

spinsterwitch Rookie
spinsterwitch
Posted

Once you are diagnosed with Celiac, then yes they would need to provide you with a strict diet. It is a serious medical condition and the elimination of gluten is currently the only treatment. I work for a dialysis center, and I know that they have to provide dialysis and appropriate dialysis medications to their inmates.

As for the hospital, the same should be true.

There are 2 problems with all of this...1) being diagnosed is the big key. If you cannot prove to a prison that you have the disease, I don't think they have to do this. 2) Cross contamination.

DarkIvy Explorer
DarkIvy
Posted

^So then, in other words, celiacs, stay out of trouble!!

It's funny that you mention it though, I was wondering about this the other day.

YoloGx Rookie
YoloGx
Posted

Its a good question. And a big hassle if one just goes to a hospital here in the States!! Not to speak of getting into trouble. LOL!! One reason I really want to go to Europe. Both as an artist and a celiac I hear its a lot better over there... And no I have no desire to get into any more hot water than I already am just having to convince my recalcitrant relatives I have a real condition...

Bea

home-based-mom Contributor
home-based-mom
Posted

More than one poster has mentioned that gluten triggers severe irrational anger in either themselves or someone they know. It has occurred to me that the entire prison population would be better off totally gluten free. Maybe some inmates would never even be there in the first place and everyone would behave better without gluten.

Just a thought.

caek-is-a-lie Explorer
caek-is-a-lie
Posted

Yeah they do have to accommodate you. There are lots of people in jail with dietary restrictions, like diabetics, etc. And lots of people on medications, too. However, the system is far from perfect and mistakes happen or you get some jerk who refuses to comply. I've seen stupidity abound at jails. Also, sometimes right at the beginning of a jail/prison sentence it takes a few days for communication to go through the proper channels from your Dr. & Lawyer to the right person for you to get your meds or proper diet. If you died from "dietary abuse" after proper steps were taken and documented to try and get you help, then your family would probably file a wrongful death suit against the city or state, depending on where you were confined.

I'm not an attorney...I just worked in the criminal justice field for awhile.

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one more mile Contributor
one more mile
Posted

It took us three days to get a breathing machine in to jail for someone who had already "died" once in his sleep.

Most diabetics in Jail in county in Pennsylvania have a blood sugar of 250. Sunday brunch in county jail is always toast, french toast sticks and maybe a doughnut. They nearly killed my friend with his gastric bypass. If you make it to jail good luck. So far diabetics and people with gastric bypass have not had any luck. People with ADD are also not getting their medications in jail.

What the law states and what reality is do not match.

one more mile.

mindiloo Rookie
mindiloo
Posted

Legally, yes, a person in any type of prison or medical ward must be kept healthy. Even if a prisoner needs a heart transplant, they are required to put him on the transfer list and bump him up accordingly as if he were a regular citizen. Therefore, in a legal sense, a person with celiac would be required to have a completely gluten free diet with safety precautions to prevent from cross contamination.

Unfortunately, that's the not truth of the matter. Inmates are also required to get exercise and be rehabilitated as long as they are not confined to solitary, but that rarely happens to the levels it is required. When budget cuts come, that's the first to go. The prisons may give the inmates gluten free food, or things they say are gluten free, but unless they're in the prisons reserved for the rich and famous I doubt there would be care taken to make sure that it was carried out safely. Many times it's other prisoners preparing food and they most likely don't know nor care what would be needed to keep the food gluten free. It's not necessarily that correctional officers, wardens, etc don't care (although some would not) but they don't have the manpower or the money to see that it happens correctly.

I'm a criminology minor and one of my professors has worked in prisons for most of his life. We hear all the good and the bad about them.

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