Prison Health Services is the greedy, soul-less corporation which operates what passes for medical care in Pennsylvania's prisons. It's not about health with these folks, it's all about scrimping pennies. They deprive a hemophiliac of his electric shaver regardless that a nick from a regular razor might make him bleed for days. Prisoners have already started to die at the hands of Prison Health Services (or "PHS" as they are generally called). Letting prisoners die saves the corporation a few dollars and, after all, there are always plenty of prisoners. Losing a few to medical neglect is hardly noticed. One case in point is a young man at the state prison at Smithfield in central Pennsylvania. Out of respect for his family, we withhold his name but he was in his 20's, active, friendly and apparently healthy. At the end of October, he complained to the Smithfield medical staff that he was ill. He coughed uncontrollably. Typically, the medical contractor blundered. The young prisoner was shrugged off with "you just have asthma." He was given an inhaler. The off-the-cuff diagnoses was far from correct. Eventually the man was re-evaluated. A doctor discovered "water" in his lungs. After stalling as long as possible, the man was scheduled for surgery. Immediately following the procedure, the still very sick inmate, was returned to the prison. Instead of being kept in the hospital under close observation, he was put into the primitive prison infirmary. It saved a few bucks. Although he vomited blood, the young prisoner was sent to his cell. At the Smithfield prison the crackpots who run security are as inept as the medical staff and the security dolts like to keep dying prisoners under lock and key. No sincere concern was shown for the man by the medical department. He continued vomiting and coughing up blood. Eventually the guards sent him back to the infirmary for observation. Guards aren't fools. If the guy died in the cellblock it would be a lot of paperwork for them. The dying man's friends expressed concern about him in an effort to motivate the medical bunglers to treat him. Rather than helping the man, a few bucks were saved. His friends were fed lies. Supposedly he'd been seen by a "specialist" (which could mean almost anything), he was supposedly on a breathing machine, and other excuses. Sadly, he never returned from the infirmary. The young man died, but Prison Health Services scrimped a few bucks. The man's close friend said: "I feel that he was not given proper treatment and the institution's medical department didn't act appropriately. With all the money that's taken from society's pocket and funneled into these concentration camps, it unnerved me that this individual was treated so poorly by the medical department. He was treated as though they have no resources to handle his situation. I feel that this young man was never given a chance to pull through. He was neglected long enough to allow his illness to take control of him and the entire situation. "There has to be more done from society to help all of those who dwell in these warehouses of misery. At this point men are afraid that when they get ill, the prison's medical department is not equipped to deal with it. "I want to share my deepest sympathy for this gentleman and his family. I also express my concern for the many lives that are placed in the hands of the inexperienced medical departments in Department of Corrections' institutions."

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