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Jilly_in_VA

(9,852 posts)
Fri Nov 5, 2021, 02:33 PM Nov 2021

California nurse charged in death of jail inmate

A nurse at a county jail in California was charged with involuntary manslaughter Thursday after being accused of walking away from a 24-year-old inmate who collapsed in front of her on a cell floor before she died.

Danalee Pascua faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the charge stemming from the Nov. 11, 2019, death of Elisa Serna at the Las Colinas Detention Facility in the San Diego suburb of Santee, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said.

The day before she died, Serna was moved into the jail's medical observation unit after reporting she felt dizzy and nauseous.

According to prosecutors, Serna passed out in front of Pascua the next day and the nurse did not check her vital signs and instead left her on the floor for about an hour before returning with deputies to begin “futile lifesaving measures."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-nurse-charged-death-inmate-county-jail-80982150
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Anyone who knows me knows that prison medical neglect is one of my hot buttons.

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California nurse charged in death of jail inmate (Original Post) Jilly_in_VA Nov 2021 OP
K&R Solly Mack Nov 2021 #1
Good that she may face consequences Demovictory9 Nov 2021 #2
Yeah, I'm happy about that Jilly_in_VA Nov 2021 #3
I don't know about this. EndlessWire Nov 2021 #4

Jilly_in_VA

(9,852 posts)
3. Yeah, I'm happy about that
Sat Nov 6, 2021, 10:48 AM
Nov 2021

Just sorry they aren't harsher. But when it gets out what she did, she will not have an easy time in prison. She will have to be put in protective custody. Assuming the jury finds her guilty, of course.

EndlessWire

(6,376 posts)
4. I don't know about this.
Sat Nov 6, 2021, 11:47 AM
Nov 2021

I think we don't know all the facts. The jail is an extraordinarily dangerous place to practice. There is probably a video of this incident. I'm not saying that I approve of this judgment, but I think there may be more to say about it.

I recall a California case where a school nurse assisted a student who had collapsed in a restroom. She left the side of the student and went out to flag down the ambulance. She got into a helluva lot of trouble for that. So, I want to know more about the medical care (not nursing care,) the available assistance she had, why was the inmate not shackled to the bed, what did the autopsy say, what intercom communications they had, what really happened. A lot of times the blame gets deflected.

I recall that once a jail nurse was taking vital signs through a portal in the bars, and when an inmate would not stick his arm out, she reached through the bars, whereupon the inmate grabbed her arm and damn near tore it off. She quit the next day. Do not underestimate the danger of the setting. Not saying it wasn't neglect, just saying that it isn't the same as a regular hospital and perhaps there was something different about the situation.

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