According to Associated Press, a convicted murderer is suing the state of Colorado for saving his life after his heart stopped beating.
Daniel Self, 54, was convicted of killing 24-year-old Leah Gee, his pregnant girlfriend back in 2003 and is serving a life sentence.
Self told reporters he suffers from sleep apnea and had asked prison guards not to resuscitate him if he stopped breathing. He believes that guards disobeyed his requests to refuse medical treatment.
According to the Denver Post, Self believes the damages in his case are accruing “a million dollars,” every day that he must live in prison. Self continues to deny accusations that he murdered Gee. In an interview he told reporters “I’ve been wrongfully convicted and called a baby-killer. Death would be welcome relief. Even if you die, they drag your ass back to prison.”
Brett Lampiasi, Self’s lawyer, has recently filed the suit, claiming prison officials were deliberately indifferent to Self’s right to refuse medical attention when he stopped breathing in 2009. In addition, resulting from the incident surgery was required to repair his wrist that was injured when he fell from his bed. However it took eight months before the surgery was performed and during the waiting time no pain medicines were given to Self.
Five years after being convicted, Self filled out a directive telling prison officials he did not wish to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation if he stopped breathing or his heart stopped pumping. However when Self stopped breathing, he was rushed to Sterling Medical Center where a staff member noted he was treated “despite the presence of ‘do not resuscitate'” on his medical charts.
Self’s lawsuit regards bringing him back to life while he had a DNR order constitutes negligence on the part of the staff. However, a staff member reported that when they are responding to an emergency they do not have access to records regarding the patients requests.
