Javier Tapia’s mental state was so diminished, he didn’t realize his toes had turned black at the Pierce County Jail in 2018. It wasn’t a nurse or doctor who noticed. It was a jail guard. After developing a life-threatening infection from a blood clot in his foot, his five-month stay at the Pierce County Jail culminated with an injury that forever changed his life: the amputation of his left leg. Hospital records show the infection likely had been festering for weeks, as his mental and physical health took a turn for the worst in jail. But despite documented concerns from corrections and mental health staff that something was wrong, jail records show the facility didn’t send Tapia to a medical provider with the qualifications to diagnose the problem until it was too late. “If I would have gotten the proper medical assessment, I’d still have my limb. They could have caught it,” said Tapia, 42, of Tacoma. “I was mistreated. It shouldn’t have happened to me, and it shouldn’t happen to anyone else.” READ MORE: https://www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/investigators/unqualified-medical-staff-treating-washington-inmates-leads-to-injury-death-king-5-investigation/281-35b836dc-deee-4015-bd25-5845445875d5