Coroner Urges Changes After Inmate's Death

Allegheny County, Pa., Coroner Dr. Cyril H. Wecht on Thursday recommended changes in the way the county jail provides medical care to inmates after a Hill district man died in custody. Wecht said his office was not recommending any criminal charges be filed, and he would not comment on whether the quality of care for Timothy Meyers rose to the level of negligence.

Meyers, 32, had hepatitis C, HIV and a seizure disorder that resulted from a 1995 brain abscess. According to an inquest conducted into Meyers' death, he did not tell nurses his medical history until he had been in the jail for several days. Once he gave his history, Meyers was given prescription drugs for HIV and an anti-seizure medication. But the following morning, May 27, he suffered a seizure in his cell. Guards responded at first and then called for a nurse, but it took her about 10 minutes to reach Meyers and, when she got there, she was hindered in helping Meyers because she had not been allowed to take a crash cart loaded with medical equipment into the jail pod. Attempts to revive Meyers in the infirmary were unsuccessful.

Wecht recommended some changes in procedures, and Dr. Bruce Dixon, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, which oversees medical treatment at the jail, said some improvements already are in the works. Wecht said the nurse should have been allowed to take the crash cart into the jail pod, but that security concerns have kept medical personnel from doing so. Wecht also recommended that the jail find a better way to access past medical records on prisoners. Dixon said the jail now has a medical records clerk in the facility around the clock. He said the jail will also be reviewing the scheduling of doctors at the facility, following Wecht's recommendation that doctors be assigned there on nights and weekends.

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