Man refused hospital treatment because of autism

Stephen Puckett of Oklahoma City, OK was refused treatment at an emergency room for a seizure because he has autism.

As if that weren't enough, his combination of being in a seizure condition with his autism got a security guard kicked and they put him in jail. During his jail time, he had a front tooth knocked out.

You can see the news broadcast on his condition here.

In that broadcast you will see a photo of him with an untreated head wound and foaming spit coming from his mouth because of his seizure. Not only does this mean he was denied proper medical care under any circumstance, but that he was discriminated against only because he has autism. It proves abuse from the system against this man that his family should be suing really hard over.

The hospital's stance, and that of several area hospitals is that they can't treat autism. This is flawed! They aren't treating autism, the man had a seizure! An epileptic type seizure for that matter! They CAN treat that. And they were legally obliged to do so.

The medical board of Oklahoma needs to take immediate and decisive action and correct this or have the autism community all over their case in a picketing stompathon. The entire system owes Mr. Puckett a huge apology and damages. They need to pay for a dentist to fix his mouth because he's not a criminal and was under the thrall of a medical condition. It's not like he was on drugs, carrying weapons, or drunk. Speaking of which, do the hospitals in OK cater to drunks and drugees who come in all bashed up? I bet they do. I bet they stitch up violent criminals too. Why? Because they have to, they are legally obliged to serve anyone who is in NEED of medical care.

I for one, hope that Mr. Puckett's mother, who is his caretaker, sues their pants off all the way around for this horrible and irresponsible treatment. It's called MALPRACTICE.