The Associated Press
GREENSBURG, Pa.— A western Pennsylvania jail is fighting $544,000 medical bill for an inmate whom they rushed to furlough minutes after he tried to commit suicide by leaping over a railing onto tables and a concrete floor.
The Westmoreland County Prison Board has decided to fight the bill, which UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh is insisting the jail pay.
In a letter to the prison board, UPMC says the state’s medical assistance program has refused to pay for Tadd Naylor’s four-month hospital stay because he was in custody when he was injured.
The county tried to avoid the medical expenses by rushing to have a judge furlough Naylor in the moments before a medical helicopter could pick him up after the suicide attempt in May.