INMATE GETS SURGERY FOR TUMOR AFTER 6-MONTH DELAY
Man serving yearlong sentence had successful operation, lawyer says
A La Mesa man who was sent to San Diego County jail weeks before he was scheduled to have a cancerous tumor removed from his lung underwent a successful surgery this week — days after his case was profiled in The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Clarence Hightower, who now is in the middle of his yearlong sentence, was transported from the George Bailey Detention Facility early Tuesday to the UC San Diego Medical Center, where he underwent the long-delayed procedure.
San Diego attorney Paul Neuharth, who has represented Hightower since earlier this year, filed a motion Tuesday in San Diego Superior Court requesting a court order forcing the Sheriff’s Department to have the procedure performed.
But he soon received surprise notice that the surgery had been performed earlier that day, that the operation had been successful and that his client was recovering outside jail. The hearing set for next month will now be vacated.
“Just had a call from the sheriff ’s attorney and the surgery was completed this morning and he will be getting rehabilitation after this,” Neuharth said by email Tuesday.
Hightower, who pleaded guilty to assault with a firearm in October and was sentenced to a year in custody in December, was featured in a story published by the Union-Tribune early this week.
He said his former attorney had told him to expect probation and that he could proceed with a surgery scheduled for January. After he was sent to jail, a judge twice rejected motions to release him from custody to get the tumor removed.
The Sheriff’s Department issued a statement late Tuesday that did not confirm the procedure had taken place, citing patient privacy and security con
cerns.
“Due to HIPAA laws and out of respect for the privacy of our incarcerated population, we do not share specifics on their medical condition,” said Assistant Sheriff Theresa Adams-Hydar, who oversees the department’s Detention Services Bureau.
“Additionally, the San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department does not share information regarding dates of medical treatment and hospital locations due to security concerns,” she added.
Last week, department officials confirmed a surgery had been scheduled for Hightower but declined to say when. Hightower and his family both told the UnionTribune at the time that they were unaware of plans for the surgery and that jail officials had told them many times in recent months that the procedure would happen only for it to be delayed.
Danielle Hightower, Clarence Hightower’s wife, said late Tuesday that she learned about the surgery hours after it was performed. She still doesn’t know how her husband responded, what became of a staph infection he had acquired since being incarcerated or how long the rehabilitation after the surgery might take.
“To be perfectly blunt, the amount of work our family has put in to get my husband medical attention — making phone calls, sending emails, writing government entities, writing civil rights organizations and securing a new attorney over the course of the past seven months — was the equivalent
of working a full-time job,” she said in an email.
“I do not believe my husband’s condition was taken seriously at all until the media got involved,” she said. “Additionally, prior to retaining Paul as our attorney we were invisible to the medical staff at George Bailey.”
The Sheriff’s Department has defended the quality of health care provided in its jail system, despite a mortality rate that has been the highest among California’s largest counties for more than a decade.
The department said it had kept Hightower posted about his surgery, despite what he told the Union-Tribune last week.
“Sheriff’s medical services staff share information with all incarcerated persons about any procedures, including surgeries,” Adams-Hydar said. “When authorized by the incarcerated person, sheriff’s medical staff share relevant information with immediate family
members.”
So far this year, 10 people have died in San Diego County jails. Last year, 20 people died in custody, including one who died hours after his compassionate release, and 18 men and women died behind bars in 2021.
In February 2022, the California State Auditor released a scathing audit that recounted 185 deaths in San Diego County jails between 2006 and 2020, the highest death rate in California jails by far.
Auditors said the conditions in San Diego jails were so dangerous that new legislation was needed to force reforms.
The deaths are not only tragic for families.
San Diego County taxpayers have spent more than $60 million since 2018 on legal settlements and jury awards for people injured or killed due to deputy negligence or misconduct.