The family of an
HIV-positive man who died while in prison in Wilmington,
Del., has filed a lawsuit against the prison's health
care provider and two of its doctors, alleging that
they did not provide proper medical care. Louis
Chance, 37, died of cryptococcal meningitis--an
AIDS-related opportunistic infection--while serving a
six-month sentence at Gander Hill Prison. The lawsuit
claims prison doctors ignored Chance's
complaints of health problems and did not order tests that
could have detected his meningitis at an earlier
stage. The lawsuit also claims that prison health care
providers were unaware that Chance was HIV-positive
and that they should have screened him for the disease and
offered antiretroviral treatment. Officials from First
Correctional declined to comment on the lawsuit.