A SOUTH Yorkshire prison inmate who died of blood poisoning had not been given a detailed physical examination when he first arrived, an inquest heard.
Steven Brown, aged 23, from Moorland View, Aston, Rotherham, died at Doncaster Royal Infirmary after being taken there from the Marshgate prison in Doncaster on March 19, 2003.
He died less than a week after entering the prison.
Acting deputy
assistant coroner John Sleightholme heard the medical reception desk at the prison did not automatically take blood pressure readings or temperatures when patients arrived.
Neither tests were carried out by Dr Mushkoor Sheik at a subsequent medical examination, which also failed to look at his injection marks.
Kay Walker, who was then a reception nurse at the prison, said the between 20 and 60 inmates were processed arriving at the prison each day.
But she denied pressure of work detracted from the care offered to patients.
Opening the four-week inquest, Mr Sleightholme told a jury Mr Brown had been serving an eight-month jail sentence and was sent to a detoxification unit for inmates on heroin.
He collapsed and was taken to the DRI where he received emergency treatment. Medical tests revealed he had died of blood poisoning due to intravenous drug use.
Leslie Thomas, representing Mr Brown's family, said Mr Brown had been 6ft tall and weighed only 9.5 stone but Mrs Walker said that sort of height and weight combination was not unusual among drug users.
He asked why further checks and measures were not carried out but Mrs Brown said temperature and blood pressure were not routinely checked.
The case continues.
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