U.S. district court medication. (Release).

Ramsey v. Schauble, 141 F.Supp.2d 584 (W.D.N.C. 2001). A former detainee whose finger tip was severed after a sheriff's deputy allegedly shut a cell window on it, brought a pro se complaint against the deputy and a sheriff. The district court held that the detainee stated a cognizable civil rights complaint against the sheriff, and the detainee pled a cause of action under a state law that provided that a keeper of a jail must pay treble damages if he/she does any wrong or injury to a detainee, and is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The court found that jail officials ignored the detainee's cries for help after he was injured by the deputy and displayed deliberate indifference to his need to quick medical attention to preserve the possibility of reattaching the finger. The detainee was released from custody several hours after he was returned from the hospital, but officials refused to give the detainee pain medication prescribed by the hospital, requiring him to return to the jail periodically over the next several days to receive each pill individually. (Watauga County Law Enforcement Center, North Carolina)