MEDICATION FOR ACID REFLUX DISEASE MYSTERIOUSLY DENIED, NOW RESTORED
by Sharon Rondeau
(Nov. 10, 2017) — An inmate at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center (TTCC) in Hartsville, TN, where medical care has been reported as inconsistent and at times inaccessible, told The Post & Email in a letter received on Monday that his medication for acid reflux disease, discontinued without explanation in June, has been restored.
At the same time, the inmate is seriously ill with untreated Hepatitis C, which can lead to liver cancer. Although unable to discover the results of blood work performed in early August for the condition, he reported in the first of two letters received on Monday that a repeat blood test done on October 24 showed that the disease has advanced to the point where “they Had a Hepatitis ‘C’ Specialist Here to Talk with me along with the compounds Doctor.” [sic]
“The Specialist Last Name was Kennedy they Talked with me about getting my case in front of the people within T.D.O.C. that get to play god and say weather To Treat you or Not, ” he wrote. [sic]
He is hoping to be granted treatment with the new Hepatitis C drug Harvoni, which The Tennessean reported last year is highly effective but administered to only a minute fraction of Tennessee inmates who need treatment. The inmate believes that if he is not given the Harvoni, he will have been handed “a death sentance.” [sic]
The inmate was prompt to advise us that his Omeprazole for acid reflux was reinstated, as in the first letter bearing the same date he mentioned that he was in discomfort without it.
He also enclosed the medicine label as proof of his report from which The Post & Email whited out his name.
As for the Hepatitis C, the inmate wrote that he was expecting to have an ultrasound done this week.