Autistic Man Arrested/Denied Medical HelpPosted on 11 May, 2010
On Saturday, April 3rd, my 28 yr old son Stephen Puckett was having seizures and became aggressive. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, OU Medical Center, but was not allowed admittance to the hospital because he has autism. The hospital said they were just not equipped to deal with his autism. After arriving home the seizures continued and 2 more trips were made to the hospital by ambulance on Sun and Mon. On the last trip April 5th, the doctor who saw him in the ER said he was going to do everything he could to get Stephen admitted and stabilized. While waiting for the doctor to come back, Stephen hit and kicked 2 police officers and he was then handcuffed in the bed. Finally at the end of the day the doctor came back to say he had gone to the top administrators in the hospital and called around the state of Oklahoma, but no one wanted to take Stephen because he has autism. The officers had observed that Stephen needed medical help and they said if they charged him with assault and took him to the county jail, he could at least get medical treatment there. That was the only option we were left with. It was heartbreaking to watch Stephen stagger out of the hospital in handcuffs, drooling, having seizures, and saying to the officer, "But I'm a good boy officer." One week later a Judge wrote an order that he be taken by ambulance to a hospital in Ada, OK for treatment. You can view the news coverage on Youtube by typing in, 'Autistic Man Arrested'. This discrimination must end. Stephen needed medical help, not jail. Please tell others about his story so we can end this kind of abuse. Sincerely, Mary Ann Puckett
Tags:
Autistic Man Arrested,
Autistic man denied medical care,
autism discrimination.
