For families
You have probably already called the facility. You may have already been told he is fine, or that it is being handled, or nothing at all. Here is what is actually going on, and what you can do this week.
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A facility generates paperwork the moment something happens — sick-call slips, medical notes, housing moves, incident reports. Some of that is kept as a matter of routine. Other records, camera footage in particular, are frequently recorded over on a fixed cycle unless something interrupts that cycle.
Grievance systems run on their own clocks, and those clocks usually start from the date of the incident — not the date you found out about it. A family that spends three weeks trying to get a straight answer on the phone can discover a deadline moved while they were waiting.
That does not mean it is too late. It means the early days are the cheapest time to act and the hardest to recover later.
Not every instance of bad or slow medical care becomes a civil rights case. The legal standard is higher than negligence. Under Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976), what has to be shown is deliberate indifference to a serious medical need — and under Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994), that means staff knew about a substantial risk and disregarded it.
That distinction is the whole case. A doctor who makes a judgment call you disagree with is usually not it. Staff who were told repeatedly, in writing, and did nothing, is a different matter. Which is why what you write down now decides what is provable later.
Free guide
What to write down, what to ask for, and which clocks start running the day something happens. Written for families, in plain English. It is free and it is yours to keep.
Download The First 72 Hours (PDF)
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If you want someone to look at it
If you would rather have a person read the details, this goes straight to Charles Christopher, who reads every one of these himself. There is no cost to ask and no obligation.
Your message reached us. You will get an automatic confirmation by email in a moment — that one is not a reply. Charles Christopher reads these himself and writes back personally, usually within a day.
While you wait, write down the dates. When he first asked for help, who he asked, what he was told, and when. If he has filed anything in writing, keep a copy. Cases are built from dated paper, and it is far easier to gather now than months from now.
Prefer to talk? Call 786-408-5073.
Two ways forward
Some families want an independent attorney to take the case. Others want to file themselves with help preparing the paperwork. Both are real options.
