Atlanta Woman Arrested By Mistake, Jailed 53 days

October 20, 2011

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By David Ibata

Atlanta police are launching an internal investigation into the case of a woman who was arrested by mistake and held in jail for nearly two months, Channel 2 Action News reports.

Police are seeking to determine what happened and if any policies or procedures were violated in the arrest of Teresa Culpepper, who spent 53 days wrongfully incarcerated in Fulton County Jail because she had the same name, Teresa, as a woman wanted by authorities.

“I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to get out this situation,” Culpepper told Channel 2.

The woman’s nightmare began Aug. 21, when she called police to report her truck had been taken from in front of her Hawkins Street home. She ended up being arrested for an aggravated assault allegedly committed by another woman named Teresa.

“Her birth date didn’t match. Her address didn’t match. Her description didn’t match. Other than the name Teresa, nothing matched,” said Culpepper’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant.

Channel 2 tracked down the Teresa actually wanted by police, and the woman told the TV station she had never been arrested for the alleged offense.

Culpepper finally was released Oct. 12 after her public defender got the crime victim to come to court and say the woman in custody was not the attacker.

“I was like real rejoiceful, glad and happy that it came to an end and that somebody was out there, out there trying to help me,” Culpepper said.

Ashleigh said the city now must either settle with her client or face legal action.

Click Here For The Full Report From AJC

I love you and what you stand for…

Kevin:

Recently I listen to the audio book, Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You To Know About.  I learned so much from these CD’s that I have been trying to figure out for a number of years.

I am 47, white female, 5ft 5in, 147lbs.  I work out regularly, and take care of my body the best it will let me. I don’t trust or believe anything I read in the news or on labels.  For a long time I have told my husband that our food is going to kill us.  Every time a doctor has ever wanted to give me an RX for something, I tell them I don’t want it. I had to have surgery one year ago for female issues and I told the nurses to disconnect the pain pump and do not give me anything else.  I did not want it. I would suffer through.

I have been in two auto accidents where anyone else would have taken all the drugs they could get, but me, I figured out what they were doing and I choose to go to a chiropractor after many months, and low and behold he was the only one that helped me.

My mother in law was near dead when she came to our state one summer to visit.  I told my husband to take her to a local doctor because she was on too much medicine.  She went to the doctor, he threw out everything she was on, except 1 or 2 things. He told them it was amazing she was not dead. She has improved and that was 6 yrs ago.

We live in the country and have access to raising and feeding out our beef.  I have done this 3 times in the last six years. I have attempted to eat as little beef as possible and eat poultry and fish when possible.  Well until I heard your information, I did not know I could buy poultry that was clean.  I have done so and I was amazed at the quality of the meat. The first thing I noticed was the texture.

Same thing with some fruits and veggies. The bananas just blew my mind at the taste!  I have been drinking filtered water or bottled water and did not know that the bottled water has crap in it.

My husband thought I was crazy for all the things I had told him, but when he started listening to your CD’s, it got his attention, so now he is trying new things.  He took me grocery shopping and we purchased only organics and read every label.  Took us 2 hours to do this, but I am now driving 1 hr away to make additional purchases.  My teenager thinks “Mom has lost her mind”!  Little did he know that I emptied his Jiff peanut butter jar, and filled it with organic peanut butter and he has NO clue.  I am working on a few other things for him.

Kevin, thank you sooooooo much for the work you are doing.  Please keep telling us the names of things and what they are so people like me can make the best decision possible. I love you and what you stand for and really appreciate your bravery.

I guess you could say I am now, mad as hell!

Have a great day.
Barbara
Atlanta, Texas

Hospital No Longer Able to Treat Illegal Immigrants

November 23, 2009

New York Times

By Kevin Sack

Each had crossed the border years before, smuggled across the desert by a coyote, never imagining the journey would lead to a drab and dusty clinic on the ninth floor of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Some knew before the crossing that they had diabetes or lupus or high blood pressure, but it was only after they arrived that their kidneys began to fail. To survive, they needed dialysis at a cost of about $50,000 a year, which their sporadic work as housekeepers, painters and laborers could not begin to cover.

And so they turned to Grady, a taxpayer-supported safety-net hospital that would provide dialysis to anyone in need, even illegal immigrants with no insurance or ability to pay. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning, the 15 or so patients would settle into their recliners, four to a room, and while away the monotonous three-hour treatments by chitchatting in Spanish.

That all changed on Oct. 4, when the strapped public hospital closed its outpatient dialysis clinic, leaving 51 patients — almost all illegal immigrants — in a life-or-death limbo.

For Grady, which has served Atlanta’s poor for 117 years, it was an excruciating choice, a stark reflection of what happens when the country’s inadequate health care system confronts its defective immigration policy.

Like other hospitals, particularly public hospitals, Grady has been left to provide costly treatments to nonpaying illegal residents who most likely could not have obtained such care in their home countries. American taxpayers and health care consumers have borne the expense.

Over time, the mounting losses have compromised Grady’s charitable mission, forcing layoffs, increases in fees and the elimination of services.

“Years and years of providing this free care has led Grady to the breaking point,” said Matt Gove, one of the hospital’s senior vice presidents. “If we don’t make the gut-wrenching decisions now, there won’t be a Grady later. Then, everyone loses.”

But for the dialysis patients, the sudden end to their reassuring routine has prompted a panic.

“We didn’t know what to do,” said Ignacio G. Lopez, 23, who had been sustained by the clinic for more than three years. “We can pass away if we stay like two weeks without dialysis. They were just sending us out to die.”

Click here for the full report