A Brooklyn Man Suffered A Six-Day Erection In Jail And Won A $750,000 Settlement

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A man received far more than a simple jail sentence in New York City. Rodney Cotton, 50, suffered a six-day erection that went untreated during a 2011 stint behind bars. The case “climaxed in a $750,000 settlement from the city,” which is an artful way of saying Cotton received a last minute settlement before his civil suit went to trial.

Cotton, who was locked up for illegal possession of Vicodin and Xanax, said his 2011 sentence went wrong in the worst way. Doctors prescribed him Risperdal to treat bipolar disorder. He suffered a rare side effect that can prolong erections, and nobody at the jail took him seriously until it was too late. Cotton suffered “permanent injuries” and “loss of function” due to his ordeal:

“If I had the choice between the reward and having my manhood restored, I’d have my manhood restored in a heartbeat,” said Cotton, who has been incarcerated for 39 of his 50 years, including a prison stint for a 1989 manslaughter case in Brownsville.

“It didn’t go down. It hurt and it started pounding,” recalled Cotton.

Despite his moaning and groaning, and “difficulty walking,” correction officers and two doctors at the jail told him his case was not an emergency.

Cotton couldn’t walk or wear pants for nearly a week. Officials left him alone with Tylenol and an ice pack to treat his condition. Finally, the third doctor who saw Cotton sent him in for emergency surgery, where he received an implanted catheter.

Unfortunately, Cotton’s aftercare went totally wrong, too. His “self-dissolving” stitches never went away. They “became embedded in the skin of his penis” and had to be manually removed “without anesthesia.” Cotton’s unit never recovered. Talk about “hard time” served!

(via New York Daily News)

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