Barriers, blunders blamed in death
Source: By Heather Ratcliffe, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (MO), Thursday, Jun. 07 2007
A delay in letting paramedics into the city jail and "substandard" emergency care by staff there may have doomed an inmate who suffered an asthma attack, according to a blistering report by the fire department.
........ And autopsy findings obtained Wednesday showed no trace of the drug that jail nurses said they repeatedly administered to ease Kimble's breathing
........ "People don't generally die of an asthma attack when they go to the hospital," Wallach said. "I fully believe our evidence will show if she was treated properly, she would have been fine."
Sam Simon, the city director of public safety, pledged to learn more about what happened, and about the medical care provided under contract for more than $5 million a year by Correctional Medical Services. The Creve Coeur-based private company has come under heavy criticism in Missouri and elsewhere for years.