Debra, 43, is suffering from advanced stage liver disease. Additionally, in February 2002 she also required surgery for a hernia. After the surgery she was placed in the SNF at CCWF for post surgical care. CNAs refused to help her clean or change her bandages and her abdominal wound became severely infected and eventually developed into a massive abscess. When she requested medical attention, she was met with verbal abuse from several SNF staff. This abuse culminated in an incident whereby one RN physically assaulted Debra. The RN pushed her down causing her to fall backwards onto a wheelchair, bursting the abscess in her abdomen. Debra was then charged with attacking the RN and received a 180-day punishment term and was placed in an isolation cell within the SNF where she now receives even more abhorrent medical attention. The dressing on her abscess is not changed three times a day as indicated by the treating physician's orders, she receives only one shower a week and thus is forced to clean her own wounds with no sterile supplies.
Christine, 64, is a wheelchair-bound woman from LA county who suffers from chronic rejection of a lung transplant (which she received before entering prison), diabetes, renal failure, and hypoxia. Since entering CCWF in 2001, Christine has been housed in the SNF. Her care requires close monitoring and routine treatment by a lung specialist, both of which CCWF is not providing. Documentation from UCLA and UC Davis medical centers expresses serious concerns about the irresponsibility of SNF staff in caring for Christine. They specifically point to instances where SNF staff failed to administer the proper medications, the proper dosage of drugs, routine monitoring and tests, and access to a lung specialist, all of which have resulted in unnecessary and preventable life-endangering crisis situations and the worsening of her condition. Additionally, the unreliability of SNF staff to provide even the most basic care for Christine is apparent in their waiting so long to trim her toenails that she required care from a podiatrist.
