Larry McCord

Just weeks ago on the morning of May 4th I was awoken by a phone call. It was from a chaplain at the Florida prison my husband was housed at. He said simply, “I am sorry to tell you this, but your loved one died in the infirmary at 12:00 am this morning.” Then he gave me a number I could call to start the process of taking care of his body. I was in shock. My soul mate, my best friend and the wisest, most courageous man I had ever met was gone. He was 62 years old and wanted so much to live.

By this time, I was well versed on sepsis. My late father was a physician and I inherited his questioning genes. I like to get on the computer and read medical articles and research. I was reading about cellulitis and the article mentioned that it often was related to sepsis. (Sepsis and Cellulitis) It was only about a week later that my husband called me, shivering and in pain. He could not even finish his call. His symptoms were classic sepsis according to what I had read. I went into panic mode, calling everyone at the prison and asking for immediate help for him but no one listened. The warden’s office, his classification officer, the medical department…. Nothing happened. It took many days to get their attention. By then he went into severe kidney failure and was near death. After that he was finally sent to a private hospital and they saved his life. Months later, both of his legs developed problems which caused him to require a wheelchair. He was in a prison hospital for many months. They also told me that he had MRSA. (Sepsis and MRSA)

In December of 2015 he was said to be “well” and was transferred back to the prison that only had an infirmary, manned mostly by nurses. The nearest hospital was 30 minutes away. Within a few weeks he called and had sepsis again. This time they waited even longer and the doctor at the private hospital warned me that he probably was not going to live. I was too poor to drive down from Tennessee to see him and it was terrifying. He ended up surprising everyone and lived, then was sent back to the prison hospital again. This time he arrived with congestive heart failure and a large abscess that needed surgery. Eventually he also got Lymphedema but they failed to treat it correctly. On April 28th, they again transferred him back to the prison with the infirmary. On May 1st, he put on his last gospel show in the chapel for all of his Christian friends. On May 2nd he arrived at the infirmary. By the early hours of the morning of May 4th, he was dead. Each time he was moved away from the prison hospital he nearly died. All 3 times the same infirmary waited far too long.

I was able to speak to the medical administrator the day after he passed. She said a doctor checked him in the morning, then left. My husband was not taken to the hospital until 10:30 PM. She commented, “Well, we got him to the hospital in the same day.” She also commented that they had not checked his history or medical records and tried to give him fluids but they could not find a vein (low blood pressure?) She could not even pronounce septic shock! This time no one could save him. Someone had called for a medical emergency from his cell but I don’t know how long they waited before seeing him. The other inmates know but are not allowed to speak.

I have a box full of ashes now and a broken heart. I have suffered immensely and my grief is thick. But perhaps I can help to get the word out to others. I have now read so many sepsis articles that I understand more than most.

I also want to say, that my husband was the victim of privatized medical care and medical negligence. It is obvious to me that the health organization has killed many inmates and has been sued over 700 times. Private hospitals cost them money and they don’t like paying the bills. That is the bottom line. It’s cheaper to let them die than to make them well.

It is hard for me to believe that medical doctors hired by this company have never been trained to spot the symptoms of sepsis and know that waiting too long is a death sentence. How can this happen 3 times?

I would like to find a way to help educate all prison hospitals, infirmaries and professional medical personnel about sepsis. I suspect this is rampant all over this country.

Thank you for letting me express myself. I would like to help save some lives.

(Please forgive me for any errors I may have made when I wrote this. I was in the throngs of deep sadness, emotional release and grief.)

Source: by Nancy McCord (Larry's wife)