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State report critical of jail nursing staff in death of inmate

By Howard B. Owens

The Genesee County Jail medical staff is being accused of mishandling the medical needs of an inmate going through narcotics withdrawal prior to his death while in custody in July.

Nikko C. Gambino, 42, was originally arrested for impersonating law enforcement officers. He was later accused of smuggling drugs into the jail while on weekend incarcerations.

The NYS Commission of Correction investigated Gambino's death and a report obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle through a FOIL request is critical of jail medical staff.

Specifically, nurses who allegedly missed “florid signs and symptoms of worsening acute withdrawal."

A nurse reportedly refused Gambino his prescribed medication during his weekend incarcerations.

According to the D&C story, Gambino, as a consequence, suffered tremors, sweats, hallucinations and delirium, but nursing staff allegedly failed to recognize the signs of withdrawal and the need for medical attention.

Gambino's family has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the county over his death.

The Batavian requested a statement from Sheriff Gary Maha about the report, but he has been in meetings all morning and has been unable to respond.

UPDATE 2 p.m.:  Here is a statement from Sheriff Gary Maha on the report:

Sorry for the delay in responding. I have been in meetings since early this morning. I really can't comment too much with regard to the Commission of Correction report as a lot of it deals with the medical condition of the inmate. However, we disagree with several portions of the report. It is easy to Monday morning quarterback situations such as this and the Commission is known for criticizing jails and jail staff whenever there is a death in a jail. We do not agree with Commission use of such verbiage as "gross incompetent" and "gross negligence" as they describe the actions of our medical staff. Our medical staff is not incompetent and did not act with gross negligence. This is the Commission's language and is not based upon any determination of fact. Mr. Gambino was a drug user and abuser which also, in my opinion, played a part in his death. The time period from when jail staff saw Mr. Gambino, where he appeared to be okay, to the time he was found unresponsive was only approximately twenty minutes.

We did receive the preliminary report from  the Commission back in December 2012 and shortly thereafter I met with my Jail Superintendent and Medical Staff to discuss the content of the report. We did implement some of the recommendations outlined in the report and are in the process of reviewing and upgrading all of our medical standards.

For previous stories about Gambino, click here.

Lou Moretti

Maybe I'm missing something but appears this guy did drugs all week long then went thru withdrawals on the weekend while incarcerated.... so drugs ultimately killed this guy not the county nurses...You can only help yourself in these situations.......case closed

Mar 28, 2013, 1:04pm Permalink
Beth Kinsley

Lou, I didn't get that out of the story at all.

From the D&C article:

The Commission of Correction report states that a nurse refused to allow Gambino his prescribed medication during his weekend incarcerations. That “abrupt discontinuance” of the medication can cause “a significant withdrawal syndrome,” including tremors and sweats and progressing into hallucinations and delirium, the report states.

The prescribed medicine was probably Suboxone, an opiate blocker that is used to help people get off of drugs - the same drug he tried to smuggle into jail. Whether this is an effective way to treat opiate addicts or not is a question for another day but it was prescribed by his doctor and it wasn't up to anyone at the jail to decide that he didn't need it. I hope Genesee County has a good insurance company.

Mar 28, 2013, 2:03pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

Beth I could be mistaken but, When I worked in a county jail back in my 20's policy was outside prescrioptions weren't allowed. The Jail's MD had to go over the record and speak to his doctor then write a new script which is then given to the inmate. This was to prevent illicit drugs from coming into the jail. As there like a custodial chain making sure that the prescription is what it's supposed to be. Now why authorized meds weren't given to him through this system, thats the question. Just food for thought. And I am not sure the jail system here uses this way for inmates meds but thought I'd throw it out there.

Mar 28, 2013, 4:14pm Permalink
Beth Kinsley

I'm sure you're right Kyle. I don't think you can just bring in your own prescription bottles. There must be some sort of system in place and it sounds like there was a major breakdown in the system here.

Mar 28, 2013, 5:14pm Permalink
Christopher Putnam

The guy is DEAD. Because the jail did not want to recognize the VALID prescription that a LICENSED NYS MD had prescribed. After his first weekend in jail suffering through withdraw from prescribed medication, he did the only thing he could, he tried to smuggle the medication in himself. So a whole WEEK went by between weekend jail terms, and the jail FAILED to verify that he needed this medicine!!!! Blatant malpractice and neglect. Pretty sure that under NYS law, this falls under the crime, NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE. The staff at the jail, KILLED a man, because they think that their NURSE knew better than his DOCTOR. The nurse should have her license pulled, and face charges.

@Lou Moretti : Your reading comprehension obviously needs some work buddy.

Mar 28, 2013, 5:52pm Permalink

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