Eric Golden
An inmate serving a 40 year sentence in a murder for hire scheme claims his civil rights are being violated because doctors at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester will only give him Motrin for his back pain.
According to a suit filed in U.S. District Court April 11, Eric Golden states he is a disabled prisoner suffering from a left leg below the knee amputation and wears a prosthetic leg.
He claims that on Feb. 1, 2005, during a cell house shakedown, an unknown member of Menard's tactical team pushed the inmate behind him into him with such force that he was knocked off balance, almost causing him to fall down.
Golden claims his amputated leg was hyper-extended and his prosthesis locked up causing him to twist his back to keep from falling.
Golden claims he heard a pop in his back and felt pain shoot from his lower back all the way down his left leg.
He claims the pain is still so bad that he misses meals because he cannot get out of bed and rarely makes it outside to exercise.
"The pain is so severe the plaintiff's daily activities are significantly and substantially interfered with and altered," Golden writes in his complaint.
Golden claims he is losing muscle tone and gaining weight which creates a problem with his prosthesis because it no longer fits which is causing ulceration sores and bleeding of the stump.
He also claims that doctors often cancel his medical appointments and when they do not cancel the appointments they only prescribe Motrin, which he claims has never alleviated his pain.
Golden claims the medical staff's alleged failure to render meaningful treatment is "criminally reckless."
Golden is seeking a declaratory judgment that states the medical staff violated his rights under the Eighth Amendment, an injunction ordering the medical staff to arrange an examination to a qualified neurosurgeon and physical therapy and $100,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages.
The case has been assigned to Chief District Judge G. Patrick Murphy.