She Pleaded For Medical Care In Prison. Now, Her Cancer Is Untreatable.

Susie Balfour first began noticing painful lumps in her breast virtually 30 years in the past. But imprisoned in Mississippi, Balfour didn’t have entry to a lot preventative or diagnostic well being care.

In 2021, days earlier than she was launched, a jail well being care official confirmed what she had lengthy feared: She had breast most cancers. Once free, Balfour instantly underwent a bilateral mammogram and intensive testing to see what remedy choices had been accessible. She realized that the most cancers had progressed to stage 4, spreading to each breasts, her lymph nodes and her thoracic backbone. It was untreatable and terminal.

On Wednesday, she filed a civil lawsuit in federal courtroom in opposition to a number of teams and people which have contracted with the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) to supply well being care companies to prisoners, together with Wexford Health Sources, Centurion of Mississippi and VitalCore Health Strategies. She accused the defendants of sustaining profit-seeking insurance policies that discouraged satisfactory care, deliberate indifference to her medical wants, and medical malpractice.

These practices violate Eighth Amendment protections in opposition to merciless and weird punishment, the criticism alleged, noting that Balfour “suffered physical and mental injuries,” together with “months of unnecessary and prolonged pain and suffering, a more serious diagnosis, and a diminished life expectancy.”

“These contracts set up a financial reward to delay or flat out deny healthcare to incarcerated individuals,” Andrew Tominello, Balfour’s legal professional, stated in a press release. “They withheld critical care from Ms. Balfour for a decade, and that suggests they were hoping she would die in prison so they wouldn’t have to pay for the treatments she needed. What they did to this woman to increase profits is beyond callous, it’s pure evil, and we will hold them accountable.”

Balfour, who’s now 62, believes that her most cancers was brought on by publicity to uncooked chemical compounds that she and different incarcerated girls had been required to make use of a number of instances a day to scrub the jail.

“My cancer is now untreatable because of what they did to me, and I’m standing up to prevent this from happening to others inside ― many of whom are my friends,” Balfour stated in a press release. “Even when we are locked up and stripped of our rights, we should still have the right to know what is happening inside our bodies.”

Wexford, Centurion, VitalCore and MDOC didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

In 1996, Balfour underwent a biopsy for a painful knot in her breast, she informed HuffPost in an interview. The consequence got here again benign, however Balfour nonetheless pressed for follow-up assessments. When she requested a mammogram, she was repeatedly informed she couldn’t obtain one till she was 50 years previous, she stated. (The American Cancer Society recommends that girls ought to begin having the choice to do annual mammograms at 40 years previous.)

Balfour lastly acquired a mammogram in 2011. The physician who interpreted the check discovered “scattered benign appearing punctuate microcalcifications in both breasts,” however no indications of malignancy, in keeping with the criticism. The physician really useful Balfour return in a single yr for a follow-up screening.

It took 19 months earlier than Balfour had entry to a different mammogram. This time, the physician discovered “benign-appearing calcifications” however really useful additional diagnostic testing and annual mammograms. Balfour obtained no additional remedy or analysis for 3 years, she alleged within the criticism.

Balfour had two mammograms in January and February of 2016, which confirmed that the calcifications had elevated since her 2013 check. The physician really useful Balfour bear mammograms each six months. Still, she went years with out care.

During Balfour’s subsequent mammogram in 2018, the physician once more described the calcifications as benign. He didn’t “identify any concerning mass, architectural distortion, or suspicious calcification,” the criticism acknowledged. However, the medical facility used a billing code that’s used for procedures involving a “malignant neoplasm in the breast,” the criticism alleged. The identical billing code was used at her subsequent mammograms in November 2019 and March 2021, regardless of nobody indicating to Balfour that the lumps had been cancerous.

Balfour repeatedly reported ache, tenderness and lumps in her breasts, and reminded jail staffers that she was speculated to get mammograms twice a yr. When her requests went ignored, her members of the family referred to as to advocate on her behalf, which generally resulted in retaliation from jail employees, she stated in an interview.

On Nov. 3, 2021, Balfour had one other mammogram. Initially, the physician famous an “interval increase in number of multiple irregular calcifications” with “asymmetric density.” Because of the elevated calcifications, the physician really useful a biopsy to “exclude malignancy.” The pathologist who analyzed the biopsy discovered “an invasive mammary carcinoma” on her proper breast. After receiving the outcomes of the biopsy, the physician who analyzed the Nov. 3 mammogram wrote an addendum to his interpretation of the check, noting an “invasive mammary carcinoma” which was “malignant and concordant,” the criticism alleged.

It took weeks for anybody to inform Balfour about her most cancers prognosis. About two weeks after the mammogram, she was referred to as into the medical workplace on the Washington County Regional Correctional Facility, a jail she had lately been transferred to. There, she was informed that the physician had seen “something” on her biopsy, however refused Balfour’s requests for extra data.

Instead, Balfour was transferred again to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, the place she had beforehand been incarcerated, she stated. It was days earlier than Thanksgiving, and Balfour was anxious that the vacation would lead to even additional delays. It took calls from her household to get her into the medical workplace at that jail, solely to be informed she wanted to go off grounds to talk to the physician, she stated. More time handed. Her household saved calling.

In December, Balfour lastly noticed a physician who confirmed she had breast most cancers. She requested what stage the most cancers was in, however he stated the stage wasn’t vital, Balfour stated in an interview.

When she pressed, he stated, “It’s probably about 2,” Balfour stated. “He really didn’t care.”

By then, Balfour was days from being launched from jail ― after greater than 33 years of incarceration.

One of the primary issues she did when she acquired out was go to the physician for a correct screening. That’s when she realized her most cancers was, in reality, stage 4 and terminal. That physician reviewed Balfour’s earlier mammograms “and found that the carcinomas in Ms. Balfour’s right and left breast were also present on those prior mammograms,” the criticism alleged, though it didn’t specify which earlier mammogram the physician reviewed.

The criticism recognized three third-party entities that had been contracted by MDOC to supply well being care to individuals in state custody throughout Balfour’s incarceration: Wexford Health Sources, Centurion of Mississippi and VitalCore Health Strategies.

Wexford contracted with MDOC from 2006 till 2016. After former corrections division Commissioner Christopher Epps pleaded responsible to crimes associated to a bribery scandal, MDOC switched to Centurion. In 2020, Centurion terminated its profitable contract with the corrections division amid lawsuits from prisoners alleging poor medical care. MDOC turned to VitalCore subsequent.

Each group was financially incentivized to “reduce outpatient referrals and diagnostic testing,” the criticism alleged.

“To further that goal, Wexford implemented lengthy and onerous procedures for approving referrals to higher levels of care which required several stages of internal review before the referral could even be approved,” the criticism stated.

“Wexford’s treatment policies similarly encourage conservative care to cut costs, which causes their employees to withhold necessary medical care from incarcerated individuals with serious medical conditions which require further or frequent diagnostic testing, outside care, and/or costly medications.”

Both Centurion and VitalCore had been paid a “per diem per inmate rate” by the Department of Corrections — however the jail system may recoup a deduction if it paid for medical care that Centurion or VitalCore didn’t present, in keeping with the criticism. “The terms similarly encouraged conservative care and cost cutting measures resulting in the deprivation of necessary medical care from incarcerated individuals,” the criticism alleged.

Pauline Rogers, the chief director of the Wendy Hatcher Transitional Home for Women, and a buddy of Balfour’s, stated in an interview she typically sees individuals go away Mississippi prisons with extreme untreated well being issues, together with most cancers, diabetes and infections.

“It’s a chore just to get a Band-Aid in prison,” she stated.

A significant a part of Rogers’ reentry work helps previously incarcerated individuals — who typically would not have medical insurance and even identification — entry well being care.

Last September, Balfour gave Rogers an early birthday current. Rogers’ birthday wasn’t till December, however Balfour wasn’t certain she’d be alive by then.

“I can’t tell you why I’m still here,” Balfour stated. “But I believe that I’m here for a reason. Because of the other ladies. I’m just trying to stay strong for them.”

Read the lawsuit right here: