Southern Health Partners Settles Suit Over Kentucky Jail Meth Death
On June 6, 2024, an undocketed settlement was reached between a Kentucky jail’s private medical contractor and the administrator of the estate of a detainee who died of methamphetamine toxicity in 2019. The agreement followed a disappointing decision for survivors of Bradley Grote from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
The Court found the contractor, Southern Health Partners (SHP), guilty of deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs at the Kenton County Detention Center but refused to make a similar finding for jail personnel employed by the County and Sheriff Chuck Korzenborn.
In the opinion handed down on October 26, 2023, the Court partially reversed a grant of summary judgment made to Defendants by the federal court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. That court found no liability for SHP and its Nurse Caitlin Brand because Grote didn’t admit the extent of his meth use, and Brand mistook his overdose symptoms for those of withdrawal. But the Sixth Circuit said this was an error. Grote was “visibly in distress when put in a booking cell,” and his medical need was obvious regardless of the underlying cause. Because Brand “failed to render any treatment at all or seek further medical attention from a doctor on call or emergency medical services,” the Court said that a jury could find her and SHP liable.
The district court also ruled for Defendant County officials who worked at the jail, saying that they reasonably relied upon Brand to determine how sick Grote was—no matter how bad he looked. Here the Court agreed. It clearly bought the story of jail guard Dep. Alexander Brown, who shrugged off the detainee’s sweaty appearance during booking to summer heat.
The Court admitted that “Grote’s case exposes myriad failures by county and jail officials, including a lack of basic knowledge concerning overdoses and how to respond to them.” But it held that a jury could find only “the medical provider was deliberately indifferent to Grote’s need for medical attention,” while jail deputies did not act unconstitutionally. A request for rehearing before the entire Sixth Circuit en banc was then also denied on December 6, 2023. See: Grote v. Kenton Cty., 85 F.4th 397 (6th Cir. 2023); and 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 32268 (6th Cir.).
Back at the district court, Plaintiff and SHP proceeded to reach a confidential settlement agreement, advising the court that they were successful on the same day that they agreed to dismiss the case. Plaintiff was represented by attorneys Donald L. Nageleisen of Ft. Mitchell and Gray F. Franke of Cincinatti, along with co-counsel in his eponymous firm, William M. Bristol. See: Grote v. Kenton Cty., USDC (E.D. Ky.), Case No. 2:20-cv-00101.
Strike-out for Another Kenton County Detainee
Things didn’t even turn out that well for another detainee at the jail, Georgia Thomas. She was already suffering back pain and numbness in her legs and feet when she was booked into the jail for violating probation with meth possession in 2020. As the district court later recalled, she had made so many trips to the emergency room by then that medical staffers suspected “drug-seeking behavior.” That seemed to be the presumption that SHP personnel also struggled with after Thomas arrived at the jail.
Eventually they took her to a hospital, where an MRI found an epidural abscess. Thomas underwent surgery to remove it, saving her life, but leaving her paraplegic. She sued the County and SHP in 2021, and the district court ruled in June 2024, granting summary judgment to the County and its jailers but not SHP and its personnel (for much the same reason that the Sixth Circuit expressed in Grote’s case). The remaining claims then proceeded to trial, where a jury returned a verdict for SHP and its employees on February 13, 2025. Thomas was represented by attorneys with Pugh & Roach in Covington. See: Thomas v. So. Health Partners, USDC (E.D. Ky.), Case No. 2:21-cv-00012.
Founded in 1994, Tennessee-based SHP claims to provide “correctional healthcare” at over 250 lockups in 16 states. Like most for-profit private prison and jail healthcare providers, it has been accused of saving money to juice profits by shunting higher-level medical responsibilities onto employees with lower education and licensing—and lower pay, too. Resulting failures cost lives of prisoners and detainees, but for the companies there is only a possible payout if they can’t beat back a filed lawsuit.
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