Alvarez

Appellant has purported to allege a class action for equitable relief on behalf of heroin addicts “who are now or will in the future be incarcerated in the Tulare County Jail” and to declare and enjoin as unconstitutional the present practices of respondents in failing to provide adequate medical treatment for admittees to the jail, primarily “pre-trial detainees.” Appellant alleges that he is the natural father and sole surviving heir of Arturo L. Alvarez, Jr., deceased, who died on September 22, 1975, as a direct and proximate result of respondents’ negligent acts and omissions.

The complaint alleges that the decedent was arrested and placed in the Tulare County jail on September 5, 1975, for being under the influence of heroin; that despite the fact that respondent knew or should have known that decedent was about to suffer from heroin “withdrawals” he was not furnished proper medical attention at the jail from September 5 to September 17, when he was transported to a hospital where he died from congestive heart failure caused by the withdrawal from heroin.

Appellant seeks a declaration that the present medical treatment or lack of treatment of heroin addicts in the…