Federal judge to rule on civil lawsuit motions
A federal judge is weighing arguments presented on Monday by litigants in a civil lawsuit over the suicide of an inmate at the Fayette County Prison and will soon issue rulings on motions presented by both sides.
U.S. Judge Mark Hornak gave John Ninosky, the attorney representing PrimeCare Medical Inc., 10 days to submit affidavits declaring the truth of statements offered by expert witnesses who have opined that jail staff would not have known Derek Thomas was suicidal when he was briefly an inmate there in December 2013.
Pending before the court is also a motion from Ninosky asking the judge to end the suit in favor of the PrimeCare defendants at this stage.
Thomas was 25 years old when he turned himself in on burglary charges, and was found hanging in his cell days later in the county lock-up.
Hornak explained to Herbert Terrell, the attorney representing Thomas’ family in the suit against the county and PrimeCare, the company contracted to handle medical care at the jail, that in order to prevail, he would have to be able to prove that jail staff and medical personnel ignored a strong likelihood Thomas was going to commit suicide.
Terrell argued staff disregarded “red flags” indicating Thomas was suicidal, saying other inmates witnessed him pacing and behaving anxiously, that Thomas had chills and that he told jail staff he was “dope sick.”
Hornak questioned whether a layperson would be able to easily recognize obvious signs that Thomas was suicidal, which is the burden Terrell needs to meet in order to succeed in his claims. So far, the judge indicated, Terrell has not shown such evidence, nor refuted the defense’s expert reports.
“Why would you not get an expert report from a physician or psychologist who would say, ‘Hold on, these are red flags’?” Hornak asked Terrell. He also chastised the attorney for failing to depose the defense’s experts himself, despite being given an extension of time to do so.
Hornak pointed to the substance of the expert reports offered by the defense,
Court documents show Dr. Richard Althouse, an expert in psychology, stated even if prison or medical staff had access to Thomas’ full medical and psychological records, which included a history of depression, bipolar disorder and other serious mental health issues, they very likely wouldn’t have classified him as suicidal, because having a history of suicide risk factors is not the same as having the inclination to commit suicide.
It was Terrell’s contention that Althouse’s report, and the reports of two other experts, should be stricken from the record because they lacked the necessary declaratory statements asserting the proof of the matters discussed.
Terrell said the broader point was that Thomas requested medical attention for withdrawal and was denied. Court documents show Thomas was tested for opiates and none was detected in his system.
Hornak repeatedly directed Terrell to show him to anything in the record so far that would indicate there was something different that could or should have been done to prevent Thomas from committing suicide.
Terrell argued the guards and medical staff should have been better trained to recognize the symptoms of mental illness, or that something more should have been done when Thomas began to show symptoms of having chills, pacing and nervousness.
“There’s no facts to connect it up,” Hornak said.
“The approach by the plaintiff has been to show the deficiencies (in training and prison policy),” Terrell explained.
“That’s not enough,” Hornak replied, saying Terrell would need to show what steps clearly should have been taken and weren’t by prison staff and healthcare personnel.
Hornak will rule on the motions after Ninosky has an opportunity to produce the declaratory statements from his experts.