A man with diabetes died in a Philadelphia jail after he didn’t get insulin for 6 days, lawsuit says
The Philadlephia Inquirer, 10/23/24: “A 50-year-old man with diabetes died in a Philadelphia jail last fall after staff didn’t provide him with insulin or check his blood sugar for days, a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday says.
Louis Jung Jr. of South Philadelphia died on Nov. 6, 2023, of a condition called ketoacidosis, in which blood becomes acidic due to high sugar levels. Jung was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a teen and required daily insulin injections to reduce his blood sugar levels. But staff at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on State Road did not administer him insulin in the last six days of his life, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by two of Jung’s sons, accuses the Philadelphia Department of Prisons and YesCare, the contractor that provides medical care in the city’s jails, of failing to provide Jung basic health care, resulting in his death.
‘They allowed Mr. Jung to slowly die from diabetic ketoacidosis … despite being aware of his serious medical needs for daily treatment for his diabetes and his need for emergency care to resolve his elevated glucose level,’ the lawsuit states.
Jung is one of 13 people who died in the Northeast Philadelphia jails complex in 2023, where roughly 4,500 are incarcerated. According to the complaint, at least two other inmates have died in CFCF due to diabetic ketoacidosis in the last decade.”