Hospice Care for a Resident Dying after Prison Drug Trial?!?!?
This is my WTF moment. There’s no training for this. I know God put me here, in this spot, to catch people who were falling through the cracks in our society. But this?
There’s a resident that we all love. Everyone does. For published media, we call him George.
The house members love him and will do anything for him. Anything. George is the first resident to win over the neighborhood where he resides. How? George carries a trash bag with him when he leaves the house and cleans up as he goes. His parole officer thinks he’s fantastic. Dogs adore him. Archie and Reggie (my dogs) know his bedroom and rush there whenever we visit.
George participated in a drug trial while incarcerated. Our society believes its ok to test new drugs on prisoners. He didn’t need any of the medications proposed benefits. The drug destroyed his liver. George says this happened to everyone in the trial.
George is in Stage 4 Liver failure. He says everyone hurt by his crime died years ago, and he assumed he would die in prison. It’s why he signed up for the drug trial. His body didn’t matter. It didn’t even belong to him. His body belonged to the state.
George’s affect on people – his humbleness, intense fear of relapse, excitement for small experiences and extreme work ethic – is obvious. He deeply regrets everything from his youth and shares the regret of drugs with anyone who will listen. George will clean the kitchen floor the same day he comes home from the hospital with three broken ribs. Damn it. Now I am crying.
Two years ago I never thought I would be in this space – crying about a friend who spent 40+ years incarcerated for murder, but I’m glad to be here. George deserves to have people care about him and cry when he has moments of confusion, followed by the recognition that he’s losing his mind and dying.
If you could see his suffering maybe you’d say he deserves it. Maybe his victims would say the same if they were here, alive to speak. The parole board said he completed his punishment and was changed. I don’t see a smidgen of the same person that committed those crimes more than 40 years ago.
40 years. I haven’t even lived that long. He lived those years in a box void of beautiful things – no beautiful sounds, sights, or tastes. His one gift was a dog named Herman. The dog’s life and death changed George’s.
I don’t like or want to judge. I believe God is the judge, not me, and Christians are wrong when they begin.
But
George doesn’t deserve to die of liver failure after testing a drug he didn’t need.
Prisoners and homeless shouldn’t become our guinea pigs for drug trials.
We should have a plan for people to transition from prison to society.
No one should release from prison to the homeless shelter.