I have a friend that is a physician at a hospital that is near a maximum security state prison.
She was telling me about the protocol that has to be followed when they bring in inmate in for care....which is always three guards...two in the room and one outside the door, patient has to be handcuffed to the bed at all times, etc.
What she told me next really, really shocked me.
She said that whenever a patient was discharged, even for a serious injury or surgery that may be health and not violence related, when the attending physician feels that a heavier med is needed and gives the guard a prescription, the guards hand it back and always say, "Save your paper, the only thing this guy is getting is Tylenol".
Knowing that medications are under lock and key at a prison and obviously not given to inmates to take back to their cells, my friend has always had concern over the management of pain, knowing that Tylenol isn't a cure-all for everything, especially when they have abdominal or back surgery, have broken bones, etc.
To me, I am very surprised that guards are allowed to make, what boils down to a medical decision regarding the patient.
