Treatment refused -- Ex-inmate

A former Bedford County jail inmate has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the sheriff, four unnamed deputies, two nurses and a doctor, claiming he was denied medical treatment for a perforated esophagus while locked up.

Randall Edwin Fulghum is asking for a total of $2 million in compensatory damages, $4 million in punitive damages and nominal damages totalling $800,000 from eight defendants.

Fulghum is suing Sheriff Randall Boyce, deputies identified as "Officer Bear, Officer Cam, Officer Doug, John Doe #1," a nurse called Jane Doe #2, a male nurse identified as John Doe #3 and Dr. H. Rupert, "Contract Doctor."

Boyce told the T-G he could not comment on pending litigation and that the matter was in the hands of the county's attorney, John T. Bobo.

Fulghum is listed as a violent sexual offender for a 1989 conviction for 3rd degree unlawful sexual intercourse.

According to records from the county court clerk's office, Fulghum was arrested on June 3, 2009, for violation of the sex offender registry and failure to appear, but those charges were dismissed in General Sessions Court on April 28, 2010.

However, he was indicted by the county's grand jury on May 17 of this year on three counts of violating the offender registry, and he entered a plea of guilty on July 16, to which he was sentenced to four years.

Fulghum is representing himself in the suit, and he is currently incarcerated at the South Central Correctional Center in Clifton, where his sentence ends in June of 2014.

'Unbearable pain'

He claims that during the evening meal at the jail on Aug. 4, 2009, something he ate stuck above the bottom of his sternum and after washing it down, he felt a "very sharp pain, saying that "with every breath I took I felt an unbearable pain."

Fulghum alleges that he called for "Deputy's; Bear, Cam or Doug(h)" and "Bear" said he would inform the nurse in the morning. But he claims that no one came to see him the next day, and that the deputies "repeatedly ignored my screams for help from the pain."

He also claims that he passed out from the pain at one point and that Deputy Cam told Fulghum there was nothing wrong with him, nothing was going to be done and that he would have to wait until morning for a nurse.

A nurse saw Fulghum on Aug. 6, he claims, and he was taken to Dr. Rupert's office and examined by the unidentified male nurse. An x-ray was taken and the nurse explained that Fulghum had pneumonia in his left lung, prescribing antibiotics and pain medicine.

But Fulghum claims he was misdiagnosed and sent back to the jail, where he says he spent a sleepless night in pain and that his neck was swollen.

On the morning of Aug. 7, Fulghum feared he was dying and said he was ignored by "Bear, Cam or Doug." Around noon, a female deputy noticed the swelling and Fulghum was taken to the emergency room at Heritage Medical Center where a second x-ray was taken.

Fulghum claims the doctor there "determined that I may be suffering from perforated esophagus and that I needed to be transported to Vanderbilt Medical Center."

Restrained

When he arrived in Nashville, two surgeons explained that Fulghum did have a perforated esophagus and "I was also informed that my chances of surviving this surgery was 50/50 because of the nature of my injury."

Fulghum said when he awoke, deputy Doug was next to him and his wrists and ankles were strapped to the bed, but Fulghum claims that a Dr. Putman told the deputy he was no danger to anyone and being restrained "would negatively interfere with my treatment and rehabilitation."

It was after a "lengthy and heated argument" that "deputy Doug" released him from the restraints, the suit claims.

Fulghum said that he was released on his own recognizance on Aug. 26, "without explanation or a court hearing," and that the jail notified Sumner County to take him into custody, in an attempt, Fulghum claims, to avoid liability.

He claims that a year after the injury, he still suffers from digestive problems, chronic pain in his throat, chest and esophagus, difficulty eating, constant pain on his left side, problems using the toilet, an inability to rest on his left side and a "severe scar" on his left side, and noticeable holes in his stomach from surgery tubes.

Fulghum is asking to acquire "protected medical records" from three different facilities that he states will support his claim of "medical negligence and cruel and inhumane treatment."

The case was originally filed in U.S. District Court -- Middle District of Tennessee, but was transferred to the Eastern District this week and has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Harry S. Mattice Jr. for all further proceedings.