Undisclosed Settlement in Alabama Prisoner’s Death from Non-Treatment
Undisclosed Settlement in Alabama Prisoner’s Death from Non-Treatment
The estate of an Alabama prisoner who died of a heart attack received an undisclosed settlement. The lawsuit alleged that the private medical contractor provided inadequate medical treatment.
After her probation was revoked for failure to pay $50 per month in restitution following a 2003 guilty plea to first-degree theft, Patricia Smith was sent to prison. A month into her February 2008 imprisonment at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, Smith died.
Smith, 58, had a documented history of high blood pressure and heart problems. She was placed on March 25, 2008 into infirmary isolation. Over the next several days, staff from the prison’s private medical vendor, Correctional Medical Services, which later became Corizon Correctional Healthcare during a merger with Prison Health Services, documented Smith’s complaints of nausea, chest pains, diarrhea, and vomiting.
The treatment for Smith, according to the lawsuit consisted of advising her to lie down, to eat ice chips, and to drink Maalox. On March 31, Smith was found unresponsive in her cell. Medical staff members, according to the lawsuit, were not properly trained to use oxygen the bottle and defibrillator.
“In my experience and involvement in handling other prison and jail cases, most of these facilities do not have the staff that is properly trained, nor do they keep the proper equipment there to handle medical emergencies, especially on weekends, “said attorney Mike Gew, who represented Smith’s estate.” When a staff member does recognize a medical emergency on a late night or weekend, the staff that does recognize it doesn’t have the authority to contact the ambulance. They have to contact their immediate supervisor, who contacts their supervisor, who then contacts the sheriff or warden, and those kinds of delays are critical when you’re talking about an emergency.”
A Montgomery circuit court approved the undisclosed settlement in July 2011.
Source: www.blog.al.com
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