Can a person with a serious medical condition and locked up have the right to a physician's evaluation? Posted on January 27, 2012

My brother is currently locked up for a failure to appear. He missed his court date because he was trying to detox from alcohol and was very sick. He checked into the hospital and ended up in the ICU because of the potential for seizures. He stayed in the hospital for four days and was supposed to see his physician every other day. The doctor also started weaning him off of methadone that was supposed to last 8 weeks and counseling program. All of this was done voluntarily by my brother. He got out of the hospital on a Saturday and his first doctor visit would start Monday. Monday morning he went to court without his attorney and was jailed even though he had his medical records and doctor orders. The jail is a narcotic free jail and for the first night he did not get either methadone and was not able to see a physician. I told the nurse there that he went into a seizure the last time that he tried to quit cold turkey. Myself and my family blew up the phone at the jail for the first 36 hours of jail time explaining his situation. Finally late Tuesday evening I was allowed to bring his meds ip there and it was given to him. He is still in jail and this is Friday. There is no nurse on nights and he still has not seen a doctor, even though he had asked. They rarely let him call out and told him to write a letter to his lawyer if he wanted to talk to him. No prior charges and all this started from being arrested for a DUI which he refused the breathalyzer. He was supposed to do alcohol and drug test classes which he also missed. Now the lady over the classes wants him seen by a psychiatrist next week. I don't understand this because he was already voluntarily ready to start the counseling his doctor had arranged for him. The lady over the alcohol classes is friends with this psychiatrist and her new group in town and am sure it is money related. Please tell me if he has a case if I ever get him out. Also we have never brought a lawsuit against anyone so we are not just after money. This is just wrong.