Bethany Cajune is a young woman in western Montana who sought treatment from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health Clinic Behavioral Health Program for an addiction to the painkillers she was given following a surgery. She made good progress there. As part of that recovery, Cajune – who was five months’ pregnant – sought to complete an outstanding sentence at the Lake County Jail. That’s when things began to go downhill. The Missoulian’s Vince Devlin tells her story here:

POLSON – A Ronan woman who says she was repeatedly denied a prescribed medication while pregnant and serving time in the Lake County Detention Facility for traffic violations has sued the county, Sheriff Lucky Larson, chief detention officer Luke Mathias and Dr. Stephen Irwin, the jail’s medical doctor.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana announced the lawsuit in a news release issued Thursday, shortly after the suit was filed in Missoula District Court.

It says that over the course of nine days in jail last spring, Bethany Cajune, 25, experienced constant vomiting, diarrhea, rapid weight loss, dehydration and other symptoms, all “extremely dangerous” to her fetus.

Rather than receiving the necessary medical care, it says, she was instead placed in solitary confinement.

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Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, buffalo post, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health Behavioral Clinic, Lake County Jail, Native American news