MAN DIES IN PRISON UNDER CARE OF 'CONDESCENDING' DOCTOR

An attorney says the death of an inmate at the state prison system's
infirmary was hastened by inadequate medical care by a doctor whose
practices have been questioned in the past.

Michael J. Dobson, 57, of Madison, died Wednesday at the Waupun
Memorial Hospital, where he was taken the previous week because of his
grave condition at the Dodge Correctional Institution infirmary.

Dobson died as Dane County Circuit Judge James Martin was signing
documents ordering his release so his family could take him to a
hospice center for the last days of his life.

Madison attorney Mark Eisenberg said Dobson, who suffered from severe
lung and liver problems, received inadequate care at the Dodge
Correctional infirmary in Waupun, including the removal of an oxygen
respirator, needed for his dangerously low oxygen levels.

Eisenberg, who represented Dobson in the criminal case that resulted
in his prison sentence, had been working for months to get better
treatment for Dobson and had twice asked the court to rework the
original sentencing to allow Dobson to leave prison.

"They didn't kill him, but they hastened his death," Eisenberg said
Thursday of prison health staff, particularly Dr. Thomas Williams, who
was the subject of a lengthy investigation last year by The Capital
Times that uncovered numerous problems with medical treatment for prisoners.

"He is condescending, and he just doesn't care," Eisenberg said of the
doctor.

Williams is the primary physician for the Dodge Correctional
Institution infirmary, where inmates are sent when their medical
problems become too severe to be handled in a normal prison setting.

Department of Corrections spokesman John Dipko said in an e-mail today
that "Mr. Dobson's death will be reviewed internally in the same
manner as any death in our system is reviewed, which is through the
mortality review process. Also, outside law enforcement and the
medical examiner were notified, which is standard practice. At this
stage, we have no information to indicate DOC staff acted
inappropriately."

Health problems

Dobson, a glazier until his health forced him to go on disability, was
charged in late 2005 with selling cocaine and eventually entered a no
contest plea. He was sentenced on May 1, 2007, to 15 months in prison,
to be followed by four years of extended supervision.

At that time, Dobson already was having health problems. He was using
a portable liquid oxygen unit because of a chronic shortage of oxygen
in his blood, which caused scarring in his lungs, according to court
records. In light of that, when Judge Martin sentenced Dobson to
prison, he gave him two weeks before he had to report so that Dobson,
Eisenberg and the prison system could plan for his health care.

But Dobson's battle over health problems in prison began as soon as he
arrived, according to an affidavit filed with the court by Eisenberg.

The lawyer said prison officials took away Dobson's portable oxygen
unit and instead installed a stationary condensed air unit in Dobson's
cell with a 7-foot hose on it. That meant Dobson was essentially
confined to his cell and bed and was not receiving the potent form of
oxygen he needed, Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg visited Dobson in prison about two weeks later and said
Dobson "was weak, barely able to walk and had extreme difficulty
breathing." Although staff had met on Dobson's case and determined he
could be sent to a medium-security facility, he remained at Dodge
because of his medical condition, Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg complained to Dr. Scott Hoftiezer, who is Williams' boss,
about the lack of a portable liquid oxygen supply. Hoftiezer saw
Dobson, but the prison did not replace the stationary condensed air
unit, Eisenberg said.

Judge orders exam

In an affidavit filed with a motion to reduce the prison sentence in
July, Eisenberg wrote that he was "very concerned that based on the
lack of medical attention Mr. Dobson has received in this matter, his
health will deteriorate and he will die."

While Martin declined to alter Dobson's prison term at that point, he
did order the prison system to have him taken to University of
Wisconsin Hospital for a thorough pulmonary examination "within a
reasonable time," court records show. While that order was made on
Aug. 14, it was not until Nov. 9 that Dobson was taken for that
examination.

UW physician Dr. Ellie Golestanian did the pulmonary examination and
said Dobson suffered from chronic hypoxemia, an abnormally low oxygen
concentration in the body.

"His requirements for oxygen are substantial, and I do recommend that
he be kept in a medical unit where oxygen supplementation via a
non-rebreather mask can be provided," she wrote in her report.
Although that report was written after her Nov. 9 examination, the
prison system still did not get a liquid oxygen system for Dobson
until December.

Golestanian said she was not sure, given Dobson's lengthy history of
smoking tobacco and snorting cocaine, if he would be a lung transplant
candidate. She said that would be the only cure for his breathing problem.

She also recommended that Dobson be given a liver examination.

Eisenberg said Golestanian offered to set up such an examination at
the hospital on the day she saw Dobson and also offered to get him a
portable liquid oxygen system, but he said that was not done because
prison guards wanted to return Dobson to prison right away.

Despite Golestanian's recommendation for an additional examination of
Dobson's liver, nothing was done until Martin issued another order on
Jan. 4 for the liver examination. Martin's order came after a brief
hearing in which Williams responded by phone. When Eisenberg told
Williams he wanted the doctor to appear at the hearing, Williams sent
him a one-line e-mail saying "I am not available." Eisenberg then
subpoenaed Williams, and the doctor testified by telephone.

After the hearing, Martin ordered that a liver examination be done on
Dobson and emphasized in his order, using capital letters, "THIS
CONSULTATION SHALL BE DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE."

Despite that admonition, the exam was scheduled for Feb. 14, but by
then Dobson had deteriorated so badly that it was decided he couldn't
be sent from the infirmary to UW Hospital for the work-up.

Martin, at Eisenberg's request, ordered Dobson's release from prison
Wednesday, but by then he was dead.

Previous trouble

In a series of articles last July, The Capital Times cited numerous
inmates, nurses and outside observers who said Williams routinely
denied inmates needed medical care and medications and was
condescending, rude and negligent. Many of their claims were backed up
by medical records obtained by The Capital Times.

Corrections officials defended his medical practices, but admitted he
was counseled about his interactions with patients.

Lawyer Todd Winstrom of Disability Rights Wisconsin, which is
authorized by the state to advocate for people with disabilities,
filed a complaint in July with the state Medical Board seeking action
on Williams' license. The complaint was on behalf of one patient who
suffered from an infected arm that went untreated for weeks until UW
physicians, who were seeing the patient on another matter, discovered
the wound. The UW physicians surgically cleaned the wound and put the
patient, who has since died, on antibiotics.

The status of that complaint was not immediately available
Friday.

Williams, who has been with the Department of Corrections since 2004,
was disciplined by the Medical Board for providing inadequate care to
two patients in the 1980s; one of the patients died.