SPOKANE — A Washington inmate is suing the State Department of Corrections, alleging it denied him surgery because he was close to his release date.
The Spokesman-Review reports the lawsuit says Fred Beeman was at the Airway Heights Correctional Center in 2015 when he was hospitalized and diagnosed with a gallbladder condition.
Beeman says he was advised by medical providers at MultiCare Deaconess Hospital in Spokane that he should discuss removing his gallbladder to avoid complications and pain from gallbladder stones or infections.
Beeman, who was scheduled to be released in less than a year, claims a corrections official did not want the department to incur the medical expense of a surgery that he would survive without until his release.
