Inmate claims cancer festered due to neglect at Franklin County Jail

An inmate claims that the medical staff at the Franklin County Jail were indifferent as he suffered with undiagnosed kidney cancer for nearly a year.

Anthony Michael Cobb, 48, claims negligence against the jail and its health care manager PrimeCare Medical Inc. He filed a lawsuit on July 31 in the U.S. Middle District Court in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit also lists eight individuals, including Warden William Bechtold and PrimeCare’s local administrator Justin Lensbower.

Cobb apparently started having health problems three months after he was arrested in Waynesboro on May 9, 2016, on a charge of attempted murder. He stood trial more than two years after his arrest and nearly a year after a surgeon removed his right kidney.

The kidney had a golf-ball sized, stage-two cancerous tumor when it was removed, according to Cobb’s complaint. His condition was not diagnosed correctly for 11 months after he first complained of urine in his blood.

Cobb seeks $1.8 million in damages. He wrote his own civil complaint.

He alleges that the medical staff “acted with deliberate indifference as months passed.” According to Cobb’s complaint, over the course of seven months PrimeCare changed his diagnosis from a “urine infection” to “claumedia” (presumably chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted disease) to “gallstones” (presumably kidney stones).

He got an X-ray three months after stones were suspected, according to the complaint. The X-ray ruled out stones. A family member who is a nurse advised Cobb that something was seriously wrong with his health. Another nurse advised PrimeCare in late June 2017 that Cobb should be sent to a hospital. The family friend advised that a CAT scan be done.

After getting the CAT and an MRI, Cobb was diagnosed with renal cancer, according to the complaint. “Dr. Behari” at Chambersburg Hospital recommended removing the kidney in two weeks. The tumor “was progressing to breach the kidney wall” and if it did Cobb would die within a year. The doctor told him the cancerous mass was the chief culprit for Copp’s constant bloody discharge.

Cobb’s complaint also alleges:

• Jail employees put him at risk for bacterial infections during his six-hour operation. Two corrections officers wore torn scrubs into the sterile operating room.
• He was subjected to “cruel and embarrising [sic] circumstances violating the Eighth Amendment,” which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Cobb was handcuffed to his hospital bed and his legs shackled during his hospital recovery.

Cobb also provided the court with copies of grievances he submitted to the jail about his medical treatment. The two most recent in June received the same response — “Grievances are to be filed within 5 days after a potential grievable event has occurred.”

Franklin County has a $1.75 million contract with PrimeCare to provide medical services at the jail.

PrimeCare, based in Harrisburg, provides healthcare services to county jails, prisons and juvenile detention centers throughout the Northeast, according to the company’s website.

Neither PrimeCare nor the jail have responded in court to Cobb’s complaint. Neither responded Wednesday to a reporter’s request for comment.

Cobb was arrested in connection with a fight on West Main Street, Waynesboro, on April 20, 2016, when shots were fired. After his arrest, authorities searched his home in Waynesboro and said they found cocaine, heroin and weapons. Cobb later wrote threatening letters from jail to acquaintances, according to court documents.

A jury on June 22 found Cobb guilty of