AN ILLEGAL DEATH PENALTY CARRIED OUT

The cynicism of the prison nurses can be forgiven but the fact that he was not seen by a doctor at all is a disgrace.

A seriously ill inmate in a San Francisco jail begged to go to a hospital three hours before he died but was instead ordered into an isolation cell by a nurse who told sheriff's deputies, "There is nothing we can really do for him,'' reports of the incident show. The July 1 death of Edwin Macon Jr., 44, raises questions about how San Francisco jail authorities treat inmates who complain of illness but are suspected of malingering.

The jail's medical staff never sent Macon to the hospital, even though he had collapsed in court on consecutive days, repeatedly complained of pain in his chest and legs and was so weak he could barely walk. Instead, despite Macon's repeated demands for hospital treatment, nurses said he was "carrying on and on'' about heart problems, according to jail medical records provided to The Chronicle by Macon's family. One nurse wrote that Macon wasn't even a "high risk" patient who would need intensive monitoring.

Macon's death at the Hall of Justice jail is being investigated by San Francisco police, the medical examiner, the Sheriff's Department and the jail medical services. Investigators said Macon, who had been jailed on a domestic violence charge, suffered from an enlarged heart, kidney disease and pneumonia at the time of his death.

Macon's family said the death shows breakdowns in the medical care that inmates receive from the city. "They don't let a dog die like that,'' said Macon's mother, Jessie Macon of Daly City, a former nurse who said her son had a history of heart problems and should have been hospitalized.....

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