Posted on 05/18/2012 9:01:31 AM PDT by Justaham
A condemned killer's fight to receive surgery for agonizing hip pain pushed Kentucky officials into an uncomfortable debate over security, politics and even the possibility of inviting scorn from Fox News pundits.
Emails and memos obtained by The Associated Press show corrections officials struggling for a year to reconcile their duty to provide medical care with the political ramifications of spending tens of thousands of dollars for surgery on a man they plan to execute. A key problem would turn out to be security issues that led several hospitals to balk at treating inmate Robert Foley, who still hasn't had the surgery.
"Hip replacement for an inmate who has exhausted all appeals and will soon be executed?" Kentucky State Penitentiary warden Phil Parker wrote in an email on Nov. 22, 2010. "I can see this making Fox News on a slow news day, maybe even on a busy news day. In fact, I bet (Fox News host Bill O'Reilly) would love to put this in his 'Pinheads' commentary. Just a thought to consider before it goes too much further."
(Excerpt) Read more at goupstate.com ...
Maybe he could have his hip operation at the Miami hospital where that guy contacted flesh eating bateria that ate his *****is.
Foley gives normal psychopathic criminals a bad name.
You think *that's* bad? There's another story saying that after the hip surgery he intends to demand a sex change operation.
I say, OK.
But it must be done by a janitor equipped with only a ball-peen hammer, a rip saw, vice grips and cable ties... while the prisoner is strapped to a ping-pong table. No sterilyzation or anaesthesia. Tape gag optional.
My #24 applies for the sex-change operation as well.
People in Hell want ice water.
It’s not going to happen. The prison has been looking for a surgeon and a hospital for over a year, and have come up empty for either. Nobody wants anything to do with it, so it probably won’t happen.
Instead they’ll probably medicate the crap out of him.
I’d recommend he just be given pain meds.
“...moving up his execution date...”
I agree; >15mins ought to eliminate his “hip problem”.
If the SOB is in pain, then euthanize him.
Problem solved.
Just put him on a morphine drip that allows him to self dose. Problem solved for everybody. It’s a generic after all.
In all fairness, United Health Care actually paid the hospital
less than $20,000 for my hip replacement surgery eight weeks ago. That is not what the hospital billed UHC, of course. I was there five days.
Medical students could use him as a practice lab exercise.
Medical students could use him as a practice lab exercise.
Looks to me like he's already getting around just fine.
The parents of this condemned man appear in YouTube material protesting the death penalty on the grounds that it breaks up families.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ife0o88QHGM
The same website notes: “BILL and LOIS FOLEY of Harlan, Kentucky, and their son TED describe the effect of having a loved one on death row in Eddyville Kentucky. Robert Foley was convicted of killing Rodney and Lynn Vaughn and Kimberly Bowersock, Lillian Contino, Jerry McMillen, and Calvin Reynolds.”
Apparently the guy with the bad hip killed SIX people.
This makes me think that we should go ahead with the requested surgery. Foley doesn’t realize that recovery from hip surgery is itself rather painful. So, if that’s what he wants, let him have it!
My thoughts exactly. What are they waiting for?
One way to rationalize this situation is to let Medical School Intern Surgeons do the work. They need the training.
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