Family of man who died of diabetes complications in Philly jail sues city, alleging his death was preventable
Philly Voice, 10/23/24: “Jacob Jung said learning last year that his father had died of complications from diabetes in a Philadelphia jail was a ‘nightmare.’
‘It made me really angry, really angry at life, really angry with the city, really angry with the systems we’re in,’ he said Monday.
Jacob, 23, and his brother James, 19, claim the death of their father, Louis Jung Jr., on Nov. 6 was preventable and are suing the city, the Philadelphia Department of Prisons and the company that provides health care at the city’s jails.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, alleges “grossly inadequate policies and practices” led to “a preventable medical catastrophe that should have been avoided through adherence to basic medical standards of care for Type I diabetes.”
Louis Jung Jr., 50, of South Philly, died at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Holmesburg after a 23-month, pretrial confinement that included hospitalizations at Nazareth Hospital and Norristown Psychiatric Hospital. He reportedly was being held on charges stemming from a 2021 robbery, and mental health evaluations were being conducted to determine whether he could stand trial.
The Abolitionist Law Center, a public interest law firm that is representing the Jung family, alleges the jail failed to monitor Jung’s blood glucose levels, administer insulin and send him to the hospital when his blood glucose levels became dangerously high. Jung returned to Curran-Fromhold from Norristown Psychiatric Hospital 10 days before his death.”