A former inmate at the Schenectady County Jail is suing for $3 million in damages because of alleged bad medical treatment that resulted in him developing diabetes.
On July 16, Richard N. Lewis, 40, of Brooklyn, filed a lawsuit against the jail in the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York. Lewis, who is currently serving time in the Watertown Correctional Facility, alleges that his stay in the Schenectady County Jail resulted in him developing diabetes, which now requires him to receive two shots of insulin a day.
His suit claims that while in the Schenectady County Jail, where he was sent in January 2011, an unnamed doctor prescribed him three different medications for his back pain. A variety of different options were tried because they all caused Lewis to suffer constipation.
In December 2011, Lewis was moved to a downstate correctional facility where he tested positive for diabetes. He alleges that the different pain medications he was on caused the diabetes. He said he didn’t have diabetes when he entered the Schenectady County Jail in January 2011, according to a test that was administered by the prison medical staff.
Lewis claims the pain medications raised his glucose levels.
Lewis is seeking monetary damage for “past, present and future pain and suffering” related to his diabetes. He wants $3 million and/or a jury trial.
Schenectady County spokesman Joe McQueen said the county has not been served with the lawsuit yet and didn’t offer a comment on it.
Lewis was arrested in January 2011 with one other person as they attempted to rob a home in Schenectady using a handgun.
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