They took Grace Pinson (a transgender) off her opioid use disorder medication (Suboxone), which she had been on for years.The result is cramps in her muscles, vomiting and headaches. In addition, they’ve taken her off the hormones, causing heart palpitations and swelling in her legs. [Dr. Lawrence Sichel is the clinical director here. He told Grace that he HAS to take her off the hormones because of the BOP’s Feb. 19 policy regarding the Management of Inmates with Gender Dysphoria.]
They play with all of our lives through their indifference. In my case, I have a blood clot in my leg due to deep vein thrombosis; kidney disease; a clotting disorder for which I take two blood thinners; and type 2 diabetes. The clot is causing the skin on the outside of my leg to deteriorate from the ankle up. My leg is turning black; it smells badly and leaks fluid where the skin has begun to recede. It looks like a flesh-eating virus, but they say it is due to the blood clot cutting off blood flow to the surrounding tissues.
I was wheelchair-bound but now they have taken that away and replaced it with a very narrow chair that barely holds my body and is painful to sit in because they won’t let me have a cushion. They say they don’t pay for such things. It’s hard to get any of the medical supplies I need to take care of wounds, and the nurses call me a “whiner” and a “cry baby.” But I am just trying to do my due diligence and inquire into what is going on with my situation. Why haven’t I been seen by a dermatologist if the staff locally are unqualified to precisely diagnose and treat the skin deterioration? Why haven’t I been seen by a vascular surgeon to remove the blood clot?