Convicted robber takes Kane Co. to court over bad medication

A convicted robber has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he was given the wrong medication while incarcerated at the Kane County jail.

Michael H. Morris, 30, of North Aurora, was "unable to urinate, suffered neuropathy in his feet and had difficulty breathing" after the jail gave him a form of insulin that doctors had concluded was "no longer effective" in treating his diabetes, the lawsuit says.

Morris claims he repeatedly was treated incorrectly, despite protests from himself and his mother, during a 90-day jail sentence he served after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery in 2007.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court says Morris' "blood sugar levels went dangerously high, to more than double the normal range," and also accuses jailers of acting "willfully and wantonly, maliciously, and with a conscious disregard and deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's rights." Kane County Sheriff's Lt. Pat Gengler said the office does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names as defendants Sheriff Pat Perez, the county and the jail's medical provider, Prison Health Services, as well as four unnamed guards and the jail's health services administrator.