Woman suffering from severe allergic reaction, says jail to blame

A Central Indiana woman is recovering at an Indianapolis hospital, the result, she says, of a medical mistake. She is calling for change after she had a severe reaction to medication.

Lekeia Brown didn't always look like this. In fact, about a month ago, she looked like a healthy, happy 24-year-old.

"Usually every two hours I'm in severe pain to where I can't take it. I'm burning from inside out," said Lekeia Brown.


On May 19th Brown was booked into the Tippecanoe County Jail for failing to pay child support. Brown suffers from a seizure disorder, and is on daily prescription medication. But when she was processed, she says the nurses took away her own prescription and gave her something different. She says the dosage was three times higher than normal. Adverse side effects were almost instant.

"I was having hot flashes, I was getting up every 10-15 minutes to go (to the bathroom). I was getting very dehydrated and my migraines were coming back," said Brown.

Brown says she suffered for two weeks, complaining to jail staff, and progressively getting worse. Last week, she says, a nurse finally looked at her, listened to her complaints of growing blisters and high fever, and did nothing.

"They just looked at me and assumed that I was okay and I wasn't," said Brown.

On Saturday, Brown was rushed to a Lafayette area hospital. She was transferred to Methodist on Sunday, now suffering from Stevens Johnson Syndrome -- a rare, but serious disorder -- the result of a severe allergic reaction to medicine.

"I have boils all over me, blisters in my mouth, covered in blisters everywhere," said Brown.

While Brown lays in a hospital bed, wondering if she'll ever see again, and waiting for possible transfer to the burn unit, the Tippecanoe County Sheriff decides his next course of action.

"We're auditing and looking at our practices and just trying to be sure that we are within the guidelines and doing what we should be doing," said Sheriff Tracy Brown.

"Ya I understand I'm an inmate, but no human being deserves to be treated this way," said Brown.

The sheriff couldn't answer many questions due to privacy rules.