BY PETER E. BORTNER
An inmate at State Correctional Institution/Mahanoy sued the state Secretary of the Department of Corrections and two staff members Tuesday in Schuylkill County Court, alleging he has received improper medical treatment.
In the 13-page complaint, James I. McCabe, 52, of Dunbar, alleged medical personnel at SCI/Mahanoy were deliberately indifferent to his hernia, which has worsened as a result.
Prison medical personnel refused to take care of him unless he signed an authorization form allowing money to be withdrawn from his prison account for prescriptions and treatment, according to McCabe.
"As a result of the ... deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's serious medical needs, the plaintiff suffers daily," the complaint reads in part.
McCabe asked the court to declare the requirement for the authorization form unconstitutional and that he be allowed to consult an outside doctor for his hernia and the alleged worsening of his condition.
He also demanded $250,000 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages from each defendant, including Secretary John E. Wetzel, and asked for a jury trial of the case.
McCabe alleged he discovered the hernia on March 14, 2011, and went to sick call (inmate clinic) two days later. At that time, he was diagnosed with a right inguinal hernia, according to McCabe.
On Sept. 12, 2011, he sought to have his prescriptions refilled but was told the prescriptions had run out and would need to be renewed, McCabe said.
The next day, he went to see a physician assistant, who asked him to sign the form and said under the new procedure, he had to do so in order to have the prescription renewed, according to the complaint.
" 'No (form), no treatment,' " was the physician assistant's demand, McCabe said.
He said he refused to sign the form and returned to his cell.
"No medical examination was performed or even offered to monitor the condition of the hernia nor were the prescriptions for the treatment of the hernia renewed," the complaint reads in part.
As a result, the hernia has grown to 9 centimeters from 5 centimeters and protrudes from his body, McCabe alleged.
The form requirement shows deliberate indifference to his health and violates both the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions, according to McCabe.
McCabe is serving 10 to 20 years in a state correctional institution after pleading guilty on Oct. 26, 2010, in Fayette County Court to eight charges in one case and 15 in another.
In each case, state police at Uniontown charged McCabe with raping a child, with one rape occurring on Feb. 20, 1998, and the other occurring on Jan. 1, 2004.