CASE STUDY copy
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Philosophy
Date
Apr 3, 2024
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docx
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Uploaded by MinisterSnowOtter56
1
Case Study: Autumn Harris was jailed over $40. Three weeks later, she was dead
Introduction/Synopsis
This case study is about a 34-year-old Autumn Harris died in jail of a preventable. Despite her three-week detention, she had not been proven guilty of any crimes and was just suspected of stealing $40 from a friend. Harris was arrested on November 13, 2018, in Walker County, Alabama, and died 22 days later in agony. "In the simplest terms, Autumn suffocated to death over a period of several days, drowning in a noxious stew of her own infection," Justin Jones, a lawyer at The King Firm LLC in Alabama who focuses on wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuits, tells The Independent (Baxter, 2023). This death was not a foregone conclusion. It wasn't a mystery condition that was challenging to treat. Most shockingly, Autumn
passed away from a condition she was aware of.
Cause
The cause I feel fits this case is infection, because in most jails or prison the sanitation is not up to par and can cause what can be a treatable or curable infection to a life-threatening condition especially if ignored or not treated right away. In my opinion I believe that by her being put in jail for three weeks and not being convicted of stealing the $40 leads me to believe that they did not pay attention to her health or just simply did not care. This is a great example of
malpractice. “Hospitals and clinics are crawling with pathogens, including heavy hitting superbugs like methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
. Healthcare negligence can lead to serious infection, which can form the basis for a malpractice claim” (
MDLinx International
, n.d.).
Challenge and Opportunity
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The challenge that will make it tough to eliminate errors like this from happening in the future is that most people do not care about the wellbeing of inmates whether they are innocent or not. Their health and well-being are not a priority because of the situation they got themselves into. The opportunity that will help eliminate the issue is by conducting medical examinations before the person is even put into a cell. Another opportunity is to make sure that the jail or cell is cleaned promptly everyday to eliminate germs that can cause infections. Closing
This case study of 34-year-old Autumn Harris is a prime example of the malpractice that is taking place not only in the medical field but in places (i.e., jail or prisons) where medical personnel is employed are not doing their due diligence in making sure that no health crisis or situation is being ignored in any way or fashion. The most important take away from this study is
that we must identify the issues causing malpractice in order to eliminate the likelihood of it happening.
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Reference:
Baxter, H. (2023, January 11). Autumn Harris was jailed over $40. Three weeks later, she was
dead. The Independent
. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/autumn-harris-
death-alabama-jail-b2259647.html
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