A12 The Nation The Boston Globe MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2019
By Mariel Padilla
NEW YORK TIMES
Pacing in her jail cell, Diana
Sanchez knew she was about to
go into labor. She had been ex-
periencing contractions for
nearly five hours.
Security footage showed
Sanchez knocking on the cell
door for help just before 10 a.m.
on July 31, 2018, but all she got
was a thin, white mat slid un-
der the door. For an hour, San-
chez had contractions, writhing
in pain and screaming for help,
the footage showed.
Sanchez, 27, gave birth
alone in the cell with no medi-
cal supervision or treatment,
according to a federal lawsuit
filed Wednesday against Den-
ver, Denver Health Medical
Center, and several nurses and
deputies. “What should have
been one of the happiest days of
her life was instead a day of un-
necessary terror, pain, and hu-
miliation,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the defen-
dants had violated the constitu-
tional and state law rights of
Sanchez and her newborn, a
boy who weighed just over 5
pounds. In short, the govern-
ment is required to provide
medical care for people in its
custody, said Mari Newman,
Sanchez’s lawyer.
“Diana is struggling,” New-
man said. “She continues to
flash back to the event. She was
absolutely petrified and nobody
would do anything to give her
the medical care that she so ob-
viously needed.”
Sanchez was being held on
identity theft charges. She had
cashed a check that belonged to
her sister, pleaded guilty, and
was sentenced to two years of
probation, Newman said. How-
ever, she had failed to satisfy a
condition of the probation and
was booked into the jail July 14.Sanchez was more than
eight months pregnant when
she was placed in a cell in the
medical unit, separated fromthe general population and
monitored by Denver Health
medical staff members through
a video camera, Newman said.The day before she gave
birth, Sanchez was examined
by a nurse who advised her to
seek medical attention “imme-
diately” after her first contrac-
tion. The next morning, San-
chez informed the deputy who
delivered her breakfast that she
had been experiencing contrac-
tions, according to the lawsuit.
For the next several hours,
Sanchez spoke with deputies
and nurses at least eight times,
informing them of her contrac-
tions, the lawsuit said.
A nurse noted that Sanchez’s
water had broken and her un-
derwear was wet and bloody
around 9:45 a.m., but officials
did not take Sanchez to a hospi-
tal, the suit said.
A nurse did not come into
Sanchez’s jail cell until after she
had delivered her baby, security
footage showed. The baby was
not warmed after delivery, mu-
cus was not cleared from hisnose or mouth, and no clamps
were available to sever the um-
bilical cord.
The Denver Sheriff Depart-
ment conducted an internal re-
view and determined that the
deputies had followed protocol
and policy, Daria Serna, a de-
partment spokeswoman, said.
Serna said it was up to Den-
ver Health medical staff mem-
bers at the time to decide
whether Sanchez should be tak-
en to the hospital. After an in-
ternal review of the episode, the
policy was updated.
“To make sure nothing like
this happens again, the Denver
Sheriff Department has
changed its policies to ensure
that pregnant inmates who are
in any stage of labor are now
transported immediately to the
hospital,” the department said.
Denver Health declined to
comment, citing a “pending le-
gal matter,” said a spokesman.By Adam Liptak
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — “How am
I feeling?’’ Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg asked, articulating
the question on the minds of
nervous liberals and many of
the 4,000 people who had stood
in line for hours to see her in-
terviewed in a cavernous con-
vention center.
“This audience can see,” she
said, “that I am alive.” The
statement was greeted with
thunderous applause. “And I
am on my way to being very
well,” she added as the room
quieted down.
Ginsburg was assisted as she
climbed the stairs to the stage,
at a book festival Saturday
sponsored by the Library of
Congress. But she was relaxed,
alert, and cheerful in discussing
her life and work.
The interview was part of a
remarkably busy public sched-
ule for Ginsburg after the Su-
preme Court announced last
week that she had been treated
for pancreatic cancer. The ap-
pearances have given liberals
hope that she will remain on
the court longer than President
Trump will be in the White
House, allowing a Democrat to
name her successor.
Ginsburg was in Buffalo on
Monday to receive an honorary
degree. She is scheduled to be
in North Little Rock, Ark., on
Tuesday. Demand for tickets
was so high that the event was
moved to a sports arena with a
capacity of about 18,000.
Nina Totenberg, the NPR
correspondent who inter-
viewed Ginsburg on Saturday,
said there were 16,000 people
on the waiting list for her ap-
pearance in Arkansas.
Over the next three weeks,
Ginsburg will appear in Ra-
leigh, N.C., Chicago, twice in
New York, and again in Wash-
ington. The appearances tend
to follow a pattern: a standing
ovation from an adoring crowd,
followed by questioning from a
sympathetic interviewer. Gins-
burg tells nicely honed anec-
dotes about her earlier career as
a feminist professor and litiga-
tor, her marriage, the Supreme
Court, and the law. She lands a
couple of jokes. She describesher unlikely friendship with
Antonin Scalia, who died in
2016.
But the tone was a little dif-
ferent Saturday in light of her
recent medical setback.
“I love my job,” she said. “It
has kept me going through four
cancer bouts. Instead of con-
centrating on my aches and
pains, I just know that I have to
read a set of briefs and go over a
draft opinion. Somehow, I have
to surmount whatever is going
on in my body and concentrate
on the court’s work.”
The latest string of public
appearances was scheduled be-
fore the announcement that
Ginsburg had undergone three
weeks of radiation treatment
for a malignant tumor on her
pancreas. “The tumor was
treated definitively and there is
no evidence of disease else-
where in the body,” the court’s
statement said.
Although surgery is typically
the preferred treatment for a
tumor in the pancreas, Gins-
burg appears to have chosen ra-
diation, which is generally less
disruptive. Surgery can be gru-
eling and tough on someone of
Ginsburg’s age and health.
A stent was inserted in Gins-
burg’s bile duct, the court’s
statement said, indicating that
the tumor was in the head of
the pancreas, according to ex-
perts. Surgery to remove that
kind of tumor is a complex
four- to 12-hour procedure with
a high rate of complications
and even death. It often leaves
the patient with diabetes and
entails a long recovery period.
“It’s a surgery we do often,
but you’re in the hospital for a
week, and you’d not be 100 per-
cent yourself for six to eight
weeks, and maybe three
months,” said Dr. Daniel
Labow, the chairman of surgi-
cal oncology at Mount Sinai
Health System.
The type of radiation treat-
ment Ginsburg had, called ste-
reotactic ablative radiation
therapy, concentrates radiation
on the tumor, limiting damage
to the surrounding organs, and
is generally less disruptive.
Were Ginsburg to leave the
court during Trump’s first term,
it would give him an opportuni-
ty to name a third justice. The
last president to appoint more
than two justices in his first
term was Richard M. Nixon,
who put four on the court from
1969 to 1972.
On Saturday, Ginsburg
seemed committed to staying
on the job while marveling at
her celebrity. “It’s amazing,” she
said. “At the advanced age of
86, everyone wants to take a
picture with me.”WomangavebirthinDenverjailcellalone,lawsuitsays
DENVER COUNTY JAIL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Video released by the Denver County Jail shows Diana
Sanchez going into labor on July 31, 2018, alone in her cell.Ginsburg resumes
busy schedule after
cancer treatment
CLIFF OWEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Supreme Court Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg spoke at a
book festival on Saturday.BOSTON GLOBE MEDIA
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