The prison inmate's right to treatment and the general hospital: a case report of acute intermittent porphyria.

The general acceptance of the unsentenced prisoner's right to medical treatmentl.~ will result in physicians' diagnosing and treating more patients from a segment of the population which, until recently, was relatively neglected. Since it will not be feasible to establish comprehensive medical services in each jail, it is likely that referrals will be made to general hospitals and that more inmates will be seen in the hospitals' emer· gency departments. This paper describes an unsentenced prisoner whose "obnoxious" behavior, coupled with the emergency room staff stereotyping of all inmates as malingerers, led to a delay in arriving at the diagnosis and treatment of his illness. Because of the complexity of the case material and the difficulty in arriving at adequate care for the patient, it will be instructive to review the case in some detail.