Inmates will also insist that they have all kinds of undiagnosed conditions, and that their rights are being violated because they aren't being treated. I was once sued by an inmate (I'm a DON, so I get sued every time that the medical department is named) because we weren't treating an obscure neurological condition that she claimed to have that was not diagnosed by anyone who we obtained medical records from. Our contract neurologist didn't find it either. I looked it up, and the main treatment for this condition is opioids. She is an opioid addict. She found a condition that few people knew about or understood that would feed her addiction, she claimed to have it, and she was hoping that we would treat it without verifying it. When we didn't, she sued us. She lost.
Inmates will try to convince you that they aren't getting what they need, when in fact the issue is that they are not getting what they want. I was sued by another inmate over a different medication issue. He was insistent that two medications that we removed from our formulary because they have trade value on the yard and had created an underground economy were the only medications that worked for him. Neither drug was listed by any source that I could find as a treatment for his condition. We replaced the drugs with drugs in the same classes as the ones that he was on, but he was still insistent that they "don't work". Most likely we took away his income, and he was hoping that the court would force us to give it back to him. The court didn't bite.
This is a work environment unlike any other. We have to consider issues that would never come up in a hospital setting. Our clientele is almost without exception manipulators. They weren't put here for their honesty. Behind that backdrop, we have to separate the legitimate issues from the fabricated ones, and it isn't for everyone. If you come in with the attitude that all inmates are neglected, they will eat you alive. They will have you twisted in so many different directions that you won't know which end is up.
Welcome to my world.
