Last Wednesday Richard Flor, a former resident of Billings, Montana, was taken off life support at a Las Vegas hospital. Flor’s daughter made that difficult decision after her 68-year-old father suffered two heart attacks while awaiting transport to a Bureau of Prisons medical facility. Flor was being held in federal custody as part of his five-year sentence for illegally maintaining drug-related premises.
 
Flor had been a co-owner of the Montana Cannabis dispensary in addition to providing medical pot caregiver services out of his Billings home. Montana Cannabis was one of the dispensaries raided by the feds in March 2011.
 
When Flor was sentenced in federal court in April of this year, Judge Charles Lovell recommended the provider-turned-prisoner “be designated for incarceration at a federal medical center” so that Flor's “numerous physical and mental diseases and conditions can be evaluated and treated.”
 
Attorney Brad Arndorfer told the Great Falls Tribune that Flor wasn't incarcerated at a prison with medical services, but rather for months housed at the privatized Crossroads Correctional Facility in Shelby, Montana. A week prior to his death, U.S. Marshals finally got the green-light to transport the ailing convict to an undisclosed federal medical facility and he was being held at a Las Vegas hospital during a layover, but obviously it was all too little, too late.   
 
Despite the apparent compassion he expressed earlier, Judge Lovell denied Arndorfer's request in August that his client be released, writing that it was “unfortunate” Flor's transfer to a proper corrections facility was delayed, but that “it was not factually or legally significant.” Apparently it was only significant to Flor's health – and ultimately to his life.
 
Using “privacy concerns” as an excuse, Crossroads Correctional backed out of commenting on the shoddy treatment Flor allegedly received while locked up there – that is, if he received any treatment at all. Arndorfer told the Tribune he intends to explore the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons for the alleged mistreatment.
 
Flor’s daughter Kristin described to the Tribune the substandard healthcare: “They didn’t give him [Richard] any of the medical attention he needed, and they never took him once to a medical doctor. When he broke his clavicle and shoulder blade it took him two days to get doctors to look at it.”
 
It's too bad Richard Flor could not receive the same quality of caregiving that he provided others.
 
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