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Fugitive Who Had Surgery Now in State Custody
By AP

PADUCAH, KY - A fugitive who was stricken while being arrested and had heart surgery was sentenced in the hospital on Wednesday. Court officials went to Western Baptist Hospital to sentence Robbie R. Lee to seven years in prison on his 2001 guilty plea for trafficking in cocaine.

The Paducah Sun reports the unusual proceeding was held to transfer Lee to state custody so that McCracken County will not be responsible for Lee's future medical bills. The 67-year-old has been in the hospital since Friday after he suffered chest pains while Illinois State Police were arresting him in Cairo on a fugitive warrant from McCracken County.

Since he was under arrest, McCracken County officials said the county would be responsible for his medical bills, expected to exceed $50,000.

From the WPSD TV Channel 6 Website...

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Drug dealer gets taxpayer-funded heart surgery

By Gabriel Roxas

MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY - While the health care debate divides the nation, one local drug dealer is about to get a very big public option, with taxpayers set to pay tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

He was convicted of dealing cocaine, spent nine years on the run, and his reward for finally getting caught: lifesaving heart surgery. Robbie Lee was sentenced to seven years in jail Wednesday on that original crime. He was alive to be sentenced thanks to taxpayers.

During his arrest on Friday, Lee reported chest pains. Emergency responders rushed Lee to a local hospital where doctors performed surgery to treat a heart blockage. Because he was in the custody of McCracken County Sheriff's deputies at the time, that left taxpayers responsible for nearly $50,000 in medical bills. It turns out taxpayers end up paying a lot for inmate's health care.

Jackson County, Illinois spends $150,000. Cape Girardeau County, Missouri spends about $220,000 and McCracken County spends a whopping $650,000 a year.

If you think Robbie Lee looks bad in his mug shot, he felt even worse when officers took him into custody last week. Doctors at Western Baptist Hospital had to perform emergency heart surgery minutes after his arrest. The procedure was a success, but now taxpayers like Deborah Metcalf resent having to pick up the tab. "I know he's in custody and all, but why should we pay for his medical bills when there are people that are out there working and struggling, and they can't even go to a doctor. It's just not fair. It's not right," Metcalf said.

She's not alone. Kem Gentry wants to know why he should have to pay for criminals' health care when no one is paying for his. "That's just way too much money for the taxpayers to shell out when people are having to cut back on everything," Gentry said.

No one is as aggravated as McCracken County jailer Bill Adams. The $50,000 dollars for Robbie Lee's medical bills will come out of the jail's budget even though Lee will probably go straight from the hospital into state custody without ever setting foot in the McCracken County jail. "It's frustrating," Adams said, "but they, under the law get the same quality of health care that everybody else gets. In some cases it is better, but they're still a human being. They still have to be treated like a human being."

Adams says while he doesn't like having to pay the bill, he insists that arresting Lee was the right thing to do. "You abide by the law. When a law says you arrest him, it doesn't say you may. It says you shall," Adams said.

Lee remained in the hospital Wednesday night. Adams says he could be transferred as early as Thursday to a state penitentiary hospital.