Diabetic inmate dies after jail staff failed to provide insulin

This tragic episode will likely cost the city of Irving a pretty penny. The Dallas News story ("Irving jail staff new diabetic inmate had no insulin before death," Dec. 9) opened:

Irving jail staff knew that a diabetic inmate needed insulin hours, if not days, before she collapsed in her cell and died.

Two jail supervisors have been placed on paid leave while the city and district attorney’s office investigate the Nov. 3 death of Sarah Tibbetts, 37.

The medical examiner has not yet ruled on the cause of death. Nor have police responded to accounts from family and jail sources that Tibbetts, who took insulin daily to survive, did not get any during nearly 42 hours in custody.

A grocery store baker before her life began to fall apart several years ago, Tibbetts often lived out of motel rooms and recently lost her 12-year-old son to child services, according to her family.

The only convictions on her record were misdemeanors; trespassing and drug possession last year. But Irving police had arrested her several times before they found her Nov. 1 in a motel room — allegedly with someone else’s credit card and traces of marijuana on baggies in her purse.

Family said that Tibbetts’ arrests usually ended with a minor charge being dropped and a trip to the hospital for insulin, which she either left behind or wasn’t allowed to use because it was improperly labeled.

But this time, something went wrong.

Jail staff knew the woman needed insulin because her mother told them:

Rebecca Tibbetts, Sarah’s mother, said staff phoned her a day after the motel arrest and asked her to bring the medicine to jail.

“I said I’m in California. I can’t bring it up,” said Rebecca Tibbetts, who lives in that state. “I said my daughter is insulin-dependent and she will die without her insulin. If you can’t provide it, she needs to be sent to a hospital.”

Her boyfriend, in a jail cell across the corridor from her, watched Tibbetts slip into a diabetic coma then “Screamed bloody murder until [the guards] finally got up.” Reported the News, "Later that day, Rebecca Tibbetts got another call from the jail and learned her daughter was dead." Further, "A jail employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that staff knew Tibbetts needed insulin before her death." Authorities say they're investigating and have yet to publicly comment.

H/T: Texas Monthly.