Howard v. City of Columbus

McMurray, Presiding Judge.

James Howard, Jr. died during incarceration at the Muscogee County jail, perishing after prolonged suffering resulting from untreated diabetes mellitus. An autopsy revealed that Howard’s blood-glucose level was 12 times the amount normally tolerated by humans and that the cause of death was “ketoacidosis.”1 Although Howard (as well as other inmates) allegedly advised jailers of his debilitating condition for several days, these pleas went unnoticed until Howard lapsed into a coma. Paramedics were then summoned to the jail and quickly determined that Howard was…