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When New York corrections officers attack prisoners in infirmaries — as has happened dozens of times in the past 15 years — it is nurses who must document and treat the resulting injuries. Their choices can save lives or cover up abuse.
A prisoner at Green Haven Correctional Facility accused a nurse of medically clearing him to be sent to solitary confinement to cover up a beating by guards that left him with life-threatening injuries: a punctured lung, broken ribs, and a fractured hand. By contrast, at nearby Sing Sing, a man credited nurses with saving his life by yelling at an officer to stop beating him. |
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When Prison Nurses Must Choose Between Loyalty to Abusive Guards and Devotion to Patients
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How nurses handle instances of violence in infirmaries gained wider attention in December when state officials released body camera footage showing nurses peering into an exam room from a hallway while guards fatally beat and choked Robert Brooks at Marcy prison.
Violent prison culture puts nurses in a bind, experts say. Nurses' primary duty is to support the health and well-being of their patients, according to the New York nursing board. Yet prison nurses can also feel a dual loyalty to the guards who ensure their safety, several former corrections nurses and staffers said. In this way, the blue wall extends into the prison clinic.
Medical staff go along with cover-ups all the time, said a retired internal investigator in the state prison system.
"If they want to keep their jobs, they have to go along," he said. |
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