Defenses offered in suit brought in inmate’s hanging death
Attorneys for the former and current Fayette County Prison wardens, two guards and the prison’s medical provider and its employees filed paperwork in federal court setting forth several defenses in the suit brought by the mother of a man who hanged himself in the lockup.
Shannon Ferencz filed suit last year concerning the Sept. 12, 2009, death of her son, Cade Stevens. While he was incarcerated in the Fayette County Prison, Stevens, 25, of Dawson hanged himself in his cell. The suit alleges that officials should have put him on suicide watch because he was a detoxing drug addict and that had guards looked at the monitors, they would have seen Stevens try unsuccessfully to hang himself multiple times before he did so.
Ferencz filed wrongful death and other claims.
The suit names former prison warden Larry Medlock and current warden Brian Miller, guards Geary O’Neil and Barry Simon, PrimeCare Medical, Inc. and employees Carol Younkin and Timmee Burnsworth.
Marie M. Jones, attorney for Medlock and Miller, indicated her clients did not show any deliberate indifference to a serious medical condition that Stevens may have had, that Stevens’ conduct — to Miller or Medlock’s conduct — caused his death and that PrimeCare provided care in a reasonable and professional manner.
Jones noted that Stevens’ complaints were relayed to PrimeCare employees.
“The medical defendant has responsibility for medical care and decisions,” Jones wrote.
Attorney John R. Ninosky, who represents PrimeCare, Younkin and Burnsworth indicated that they “provided medical care which conformed to the applicable standard of care.”
“At no point did PrimeCare Medical, Inc., Carol Younkin or Timmee Burnsworth exhibit a deliberate indifference to any serious medical need of Cade Stevens,” Ninosky wrote.
He also indicated that the company and its employees confirmed the policies and procedures that they should have, and that the providers “utilized their best professional judgment in all medical decisions concerning Cade Stevens.”
Suzanne B. Merrick, attorney for O’Neil and Simon, wrote that her clients are entitled to immunity from suit, and that they did not violate Stevens’ constitutional rights. O’Neil and Simon’s actions “were objectively reasonable under the circumstances.”
Merrick also argued that the guards “did not have knowledge of a serious medical condition of the decedent,” and that they was no deliberate indifference shown.
Attorneys for all of the defendants alleged that Ferencz’s attorney, Noah Geary, was beyond the two-year statute of limitations for filing some of the claims in the suit.
Stevens was brought to the prison after he was arrested for robbing men on a golf course.