Man Says Medical Neglect At Fulton County Jail Led To His Legs Being Amputated
Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail has once again come under scrutiny after a man alleged that the medical neglect he experienced while being detained resulted in his legs and fingers being amputated.
According to AP, Rashaad Muhammad called 911 on Aug. 11 after being involved in a shooting. When authorities arrived at the scene, Muhammad was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and gun possession. During his arrest, Muhammad told the officers that he needed antibiotics and medical supplies that were in his care. Liza Park, one of Muhammad’s attorneys, told AP that he has a catheter for a chronic bladder condition that makes him susceptible to infections if he doesn’t have access to his antibiotics.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is among the lawyers representing Muhammad. Crump told reporters that Muhammad was initially taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was cleared to be sent to the Fulton County Jail. While detained, Muhammad repeatedly told the jail’s medical staff that he needed his medical supplies, and those requests were allegedly ignored.
“For days, I’m in the corner by myself suffering. Nobody’s checking on me. Nobody’s coming up to you,” Muhammad told reporters. “I’m back there. I was tired, so I’m trying to tell the officer, ‘Hey officer, I need to, you know, it’s getting bad.’ Nothing.”
Crump explained that Muhammad was in “severe medical distress” for two weeks and was eventually taken back to the hospital. Muhammad fell into a coma, and when he awoke two weeks later, the doctors told him his hands and legs had become so infected that it was a matter of “life over limbs.” Muhammed is now in a wheelchair as a result of the amputation.
“I’m not OK. Every day is a battle. It’s a struggle,” Muhammad said during a news conference after he and his lawyers met with Sheriff Pat Labat. “It was coming back to a nightmare that you pray every day isn’t real,” Crump said of Wednesday’s meeting. Muhammad’s attorneys added that the charges against him were dropped earlier this month, though it’s currently unclear why.
“For them to drop the charges is another slap in the face, because I was there for no reason. I didn’t have to be there,” Muhammad said. While a lawsuit has yet to be filed, Crump told reporters they are exploring every legal option to obtain justice for Muhammad.
“It is important to note that of the 188 days Mr. Muhammad was in custody, 177 of those days were spent at Grady under hospital care,” the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “During his time at the Fulton County Jail, he was under the medical care of NaphCare.”
Sadly, this is not the first time that conditions at Fulton County Jail have come under scrutiny. In 2022, Lashawn Thompson was found dead in his cell, and his body was covered in bedbugs and other insects. Thompson’s death led to the jail being investigated by the Department of Justice in 2023, which found that the jail’s conditions were inhumane and violated the constitutional rights of those detained there.
The jail was placed under a consent decree in 2025, with an independent monitor visiting to document issues and the actions being taken to address them. Crump told reporters that NaphCare should no longer be providing medical services to the Fulton County Jail after the death of Thompson and the alleged medical neglect experienced by Muhammad. He went on to blame the Fulton County Board of Commissioners for what happened to Muhammad, as they were aware of the issues in the jail but had done little to fix them.
“It was foreseeable that there was going to be a tragedy like Rashaad Muhammad,” Crump told 11 Alive. “It is foreseeable that if nothing happens, that this won’t be the last tragedy.”
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