GREENUP, Ky. (LEX 18) — Samuel Morgan says his son Danny had been calling him from the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex since mid-October of last year, telling him he was getting sicker, not better.
"He was coughing up blood, he was hard to breathe. He was real weak," Morgan said.
Morgan says his son continued to see medical staff at the facility, but says they dismissed his symptoms.
"Just kept telling him, you know, that there was nothing wrong with him. Go back to your cell and drink more water and take a Tylenol," Morgan said.
Morgan says he last spoke with Danny around Jan. 9. Then, on the morning of Jan. 14, he says the chaplain from Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex called.
"You know, it's a phone call that you don't ever want to get, no matter where your child is at," Morgan said.
He says his son was rushed by ambulance to the Saint Claire Medical Center in Morehead. The Rowan County coroner John Northcutt pronounced Danny dead in the emergency room, telling LEX 18 Investigates he had a gastrointestinal bleed. But Morgan believes Danny was already dying before he reached the hospital.
"The EMTs told them that on their way to the hospital, my son was throwing up. He looked at them and said that there's nothing that you can do for me, and then he coded," Morgan said.
Now, two months later, Morgan says he is still in the dark about why his 33-year-old son got so sick that he died. The coroner tells LEX 18 Investigates the state medical examiner has not yet determined an official cause of death.
"They were at that point saying that endocarditis is what killed him, and that is a treatable disease," Morgan said.
LEX 18 Investigates has submitted an open records request to the Kentucky Department of Corrections requesting Danny Morgan's records and information on his medical treatment. A spokesman with the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet said, per HIPAA, the department is prohibited from disclosing specific information related to an inmate's medical conditions or death.
Danny Morgan's death is the fifth inmate death at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex since August. His father, like the families of four other inmates who died while housed at the facility, wants answers and accountability.
