Calmelet noticed that he began looking pale, "that internal-sickness kind of pale." Killian himself wrote that he was having not just fever with "a great amount of sweat" but also chills, "severe headaches, nausea, blurry vision." Believing that many of his symptoms were caused by an overdosage of Dapsone, another antibiotic he was taking, Killian tried to change the dosage, and when he couldn't, stopped taking the Dapsone. Knowing the state of his immune system, he also stopped eating from the trays that were brought him, which he said were dirty, and instead, bought food from the commissary and drank only from sealed containers.
But when Calmelet told him there had been a swine flu death in the jail (the victim had "other medical conditions," sheriff's officials said) Killian began crying, saying, "I hope I can make it out of here." The handwriting in his letters deteriorated, though, and on October 25, Calmelet said he had never seen Killian look so bad.
Daniel Kramer
Monte Killian says he asked for his medication again and again for days to no avail.
His family sought help from his lawyer, but again, Stephanie Martin wouldn't return calls. Calmelet tried to tell the jail Killian needed help, but no one would see him, and no one would call him back. Killian's sister, Angela, had better luck: The floor sergeant most courteously told her that he would check on Killian — and then, Calmelet reported, he yelled at Killian for having his sister come complaining.
Killian, meanwhile, had decided to avoid the clinic, "because of all the sickness" there. He told Calmelet that he was dizzy, that he was weak, that he was losing his hearing and seeing black spots. "Mentally and physically, he can't take anymore," Calmelet said. The prosecutor had offered Killian two years' probation, which, planning to fight, Killian had rejected. "Now, he's just trying to get out of jail as quickly as possible," Calmelet said, and indeed, on October 22, Killian wrote that "I have to get out of here no matter the cost to save my life."
On October 28, Killian, in shackles, shuffled into the 262nd State District Court. His mouth was open. His eyes were vacant. His whole body was trembling.
"Do you understand the charges against you?" asked Judge Mike Anderson.
"Yes," said Killian.
"And how do you plead to these charges?" said the judge.
"Guilty," said Killian.
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He was released at 4:15 the next morning, Calmelet waiting for him and taking him later that morning to Legacy to see his regular doctor. When Killian had seen her last, on September 3, just before entering jail, his blood pressure was recorded as 130 over 74, with a weight of 211 pounds. Emerging from jail seven weeks later, he weighed 20 pounds less, and his blood pressure was 96 over 66. "Confused," the doctor wrote, underlining the word. Killian was also jaundiced, she noted, with blood in his nose and stool. "This is all recent," wrote the doctor, and again, dispatched Killian immediately to the emergency room.
At Memorial Hermann, he was found to be severely dehydrated, Angela Killian reported, and perhaps because of the dehydration, his warfarin was twice the recommended level. Killian was admitted to the hospital, and over the course of the next two weeks, received at least half a dozen blood transfusions and underwent countless tests, before he was diagnosed with liver cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma.
He is currently undergoing chemotherapy, and Calmelet, his partner, retains hope for a complete recovery.
As for Garza, she was disappointed that the Press had chosen to focus a story on the care of a single inmate, but made clear that in compiling her statistics, she would count Monte Killian's case a success.
"Mr. Killian's medical issues were always promptly addressed by the physicians," she e-mailed. "Overall, our medical care professionals believe there are no indications of adverse outcomes and no indication that Mr. Killian was in a life-threatening situation."
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