Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog
The death of 27-year-old S.B. was the tragic final chapter of a man allowed to “fall through the cracks” repeatedly. The man’s situation included many institutional failures, but one of the biggest was the inadequate mental health care he allegedly received while behind bars in Douglas County. Inmates and detainees are constitutionally entitled to appropriate health care while incarcerated, and a failure to receive that care can represent a violation of that person’s civil rights. If you have lost a loved one in this way or have questions about appropriate standards of care and jail inmates and detainees, be sure you get the reliable information you need by talking to an experienced Oregon jail neglect lawyer.
S.B. died seven weeks after he entered the Roseburg jail. On February 28, 2024, law enforcement officers encountered the man at a coffee shop repeatedly “asking customers if they wanted to ‘box’ and acting strangely.” A day later, police found the man wandering in traffic on a Douglas County highway. Despite the man’s mental health crisis, police arrested him for disorderly conduct.
When the man entered the Roseburg jail, he weighed 235 pounds. By the time deputies entered the man’s cell on April 18 to transport him to his court-ordered psychiatric treatment, he was down to 139 pounds, having lost more than 40% of his body weight.
Oregon Public Broadcasting described what happened when the transport van arrived at the Oregon State Hospital. “When two Douglas County officers opened the door, [S.B.] was sprawled on the floor of the van, unresponsive. The deputies lifted [the detainee’s] limp body off the floor and put him in a wheelchair. [S.B.’s] head slumped forward onto his chest. His feet dragged on the ground. A deputy removed the restraints from [his] wrists. [He] didn’t move.”
Fifteen minutes later, someone at the hospital finally checked the man’s pulse. He did not have one. Medical professionals determined that the man likely died from a cardiac arrhythmia brought on by “metabolic derangement,” which is common in people with malnutrition. A psychiatrist explained to OPB that malnutrition can induce heart arrhythmias, but they often are not fatal. “Many times, they don’t lead to death, particularly if someone gets treated.”
In 2018, J.B., a 34-year-old woman with schizophrenia, died at the Josephine County Jail. She spent 40 days locked up after failing to appear on a misdemeanor charge. During those six-plus weeks, the woman allegedly “did not see a doctor, a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant, or a nurse employed by the medical and mental health providers.” The jail also allegedly cut off the woman’s antipsychotic medication after 16 days. By day 40, the isolated detainee killed herself.
S.B. and J.B.’s death highlights a couple of themes that come up again and again when it comes to substandard healthcare for Oregon inmates. One is inadequate treatment of inmates with mental health needs.
Numerous Instances of Neglect and Mistreatment
In 2018, a Virginia newspaper, aided by Marquette University, looked at more than 400 jail inmates with mental illness who died while incarcerated. The research revealed that 33 of those 404 “died after their family or friends contacted jails to warn of their loved one’s mental health problems.” The use of electric shock, pepper spray, or restraints occurred in 70 of the deaths. More than 40% of the deaths involved inmates who were “segregated from other inmates.”
Many, like S.B. in Roseburg and J.B. in Josephine County, are merely detainees. They are people with severe and untreated mental illnesses who are arrested for minor infractions like disorderly conduct. They then experience serious injury while locked up, awaiting a court hearing.
A Contractor Implicated in Numerous Wrongful Deaths
The other recurring theme is Wellpath, the private contractor that was supposed to provide care to the detainees and inmates at Douglas County and Josephine County jails… and many other lock-ups around the country. In a spate of lawsuits, dozens of families of inmates and detainees who died in Oregon and other states have accused Wellpath of “delaying and denying care to inmates and pretrial detainees” as a means of maximizing company profits.
In addition to providing allegedly substandard care, the company has also engaged in misconduct while defending itself against these families. A federal magistrate judge in Medford found that Wellpath executives “intentionally destroyed email evidence in order to prevent its use at trial.” The destruction occurred during a 2019 event the company called “the purge.” J.B.’s was not the only such case. Two previous cases – one from Benton County, Washington, and one from Coos County – generated judicial rulings finding that Wellpath improperly destroyed evidence.
Earlier this month, Wellpath, which still faces multiple wrongful death lawsuits, filed for bankruptcy.
These cases are rarely simple matters. They are complex and require the unique skills of legal counsel experienced in handling these lawsuits. The Oregon jail neglect attorneys at Kaplan Law LLC have that experience, and we have a commitment to providing each client with effective representation that is both powerful and personal. To learn more, call (503) 226-3844 today or contact us online to set up your free consultation.
