Transplanted heart rejected because meds withheld.

[George K]

https://jaxtrib.org/2023/05/23/i-cant-miss-those-doses-jacksonville-man-died-after-jail-denied-him-heart-transplant-medicine/

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Dexter Barry waited 12 years to get a new heart. He saw dozens of doctors, had invasive procedures and moved states to survive. In 2020, his long wait paid off. His new heart allowed him to imagine a healthy life where he could revisit his passion for motorcycles and watch his children grow and flourish in their careers.

But in 2022, after a misdemeanor arrest kept him in jail for two days without his life-sustaining medication, his body rejected the heart.

Barry’s neighbor called 911 in November to complain that Barry, 54, had threatened to beat him up after a weeks-long fight over wifi access. A fight never occurred, but Barry was arrested on a simple assault charge.

Barry told Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer Jacob McKeon at least seven times that he needed to take his anti-rejection medications every day to survive, according to body camera footage that was reviewed by The Tributary. The next morning, according to the court transcript, Barry told Judge Gilbert Feltel the same.

“I am on medication,” Barry told the judge. “I just had a heart transplant, and I haven’t taken my medicine all day since I have been locked up, and I take rejection medicines for my heart so my heart won’t reject it, and I’m almost two years out.”

“OK,” Feltel responded.

On Nov. 23, Barry died.

He never got his medication, according to his son and a lawyer representing his family. A pathologist hired by the family said he died after his body had rejected the heart he had waited so long for.

Andrew Bonderud, the Jacksonville civil rights lawyer who represents Barry’s family, is worried Barry didn’t get his medications because of the extreme expense to obtain them.

“Records from jail will likely show they made a note of it,” Bonderud said. “JSO recognized it’s an extremely expensive medication and how disgusting if it turns out that this was a business decision for the JSO, that they would rather not pay for the medication. They would rather risk death over a business decision. It’s one of the most outrageous cases I’ve ever seen in this city of JSO misconduct.”

An expert with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care – under which JSO is accredited – said police and jail officials had a constitutional responsibility to care for Barry. Officials had options to get Barry his medicine.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office refused to answer questions about Barry, citing an administrative review of his death, but records show that Armor Health, which operates the jail’s health care system, has not consistently given inmates health assessments within the required 14-day time frame. Because Barry had only been held for two days, it’s likely he didn’t get that assessment. It’s unknown if Barry was seen at all by a nurse during his booking because the jail declined to release medical records.

[Axtremus]

The death is so unnecessary.

[Mik]

Heads will roll, and should.

[Jolly]

@Mik said in Transplanted heart rejected because meds withheld.:

Heads will roll, and should.

Oh, I want to see more than that. I want to see some very serious cash paid out.

I also want to know why a prisoner was held for days on a misdemeanor.

[Axtremus]

@Jolly said in Transplanted heart rejected because meds withheld.:

I also want to know why a prisoner was held for days on a misdemeanor.

Not saying this applies to this case, but consider a Friday night detention, the court is closed, no judge to hear the case and set bail until the following Monday, and there’s your three day hold under “business as usual.”

[Jon]

@Jolly said in Transplanted heart rejected because meds withheld.:

I also want to know why a prisoner was held for days on a misdemeanor.

Because he’s a Jan 6th defendant black?

[Jolly]

@Jon said in Transplanted heart rejected because meds withheld.:

@Jolly said in Transplanted heart rejected because meds withheld.:

I also want to know why a prisoner was held for days on a misdemeanor.

Because he’s a Jan 6th defendant black?

If he'd been a January 6th guy, you'd be dancing in the aisles over his death