‘Deal with the pain’: Prisoner at Kansas facility says staff denied post-surgery care
A Kansas prisoner alleges that medical staff failed to take him to have screws removed from his foot and instead told him he would have to “deal with the pain.”
Kalen Mock, who was convicted in 2019 of second-degree murder of Wyandotte County, filed a federal lawsuit on Friday.
The 29-year-old prisoner at Ellsworth Correctional Facility slipped on a patch of ice in March 2022 and was taken to a hospital for emergency treatment on his right foot and ankle, his attorneys said in the lawsuit.
He underwent surgery where screws were inserted to help heal the broken bone. The surgeon told him the screws would need to be removed in nine to 10 weeks, and Mock returned to the central Kansas prison.
About six weeks later, Mock went to a post-surgical appointment, and the surgeon said the screws would be removed in about two weeks.
According to the lawsuit, medical staff at the prison “refused to allow Plaintiff to attend the appointment to have the screws removed. The attending physician stated to Plaintiff, ‘We’re going to leave the screws in there. We have other people with those types of injuries’ despite the surgeon’s instructions.”
Mock has not been evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon, the lawsuit said, and his ankle has not healed properly.
“Plaintiff now medicates daily, as he suffers from chronic pain and likely permanent damage to his right foot/ankle,” the lawsuit said.
Mock alleges that the facility and the Kansas Department of Corrections engaged in deliberate indifference and deliberate interference with his treatment.
The Kansas Department of Corrections said it does not comment on pending litigation.
This story was originally published December 11, 2023 at 11:03 AM.
