Government
Jun. 18, 2002
CDC Settles in Inmate's Death
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Department of Corrections has agreed to pay $201,000 to settle a wrongful death suit brought by the family of an inmate who was denied appropriate medical care for hepatitis C.
According to lawyers at Justice Now, an Oakland nonprofit organization, the suit was one of the first in the nation to challenge the standard of care in prison for hepatitis C, also known as HCV.
"This settlement is essentially an admission of the Department of Corrections' inability to address this epidemic," said Cynthia Chandler, co-director of Justice Now and counsel for the family of Rosemary Willeby, who died in October 1999. She had a year left of a three-year drug possession sentence at the Central California Women's Facility. "What happened to Ms. Willeby is altogether too common."
According to Chandler, prison officials ignored Willeby's warnings that she had HCV and included her in an aggressive tuberculosis treatment program that included medications known to be harmful to people with hepatitis. The officials also refused to let her see a liver specialist until 10 days before her death. She was 47.
The case, Willeby v. Terhune, CIVS-00-2349GEB, was filed in federal court in Sacramento.
"Even as her stomach swelled and she looked nine months' pregnant, no one ever treated her for the condition she had," said Cassandra Shaylor, co-director of Justice Now. "Her continued treatment with medications that are labeled 'liver toxic' constituted a clear violation of her Eighth Amendment rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment."
CDC spokeswoman Terry Thornton declined to comment on the settlement.
In addition to the wrongful death charges, the suit also claims that state prison officials routinely and wantonly misinform families about the medical conditions of inmates. In Willeby's case, prison staff mistakenly reported her death and later described her as being in stable condition when she was about to die.
"Those practices are fairly commonplace," Chandler said. "They act as though they have no duty or obligation to contact families regarding inmates' health. They denied that Ms. Willeby was even seriously ill."
Chandler said her organization expects those problems will worsen if the CDC adopts the new visitor regulations it opened to public comment last month.
If adopted as written, the regulations will classify visitation as a privilege rather than as a right.
According to Chandler, the new guidelines will prevent some drug offenders from receiving visits for the first year of their sentence and will require minors to have valid identification to visit prisoners.
"Those kinds of regulations are why Ms. Willeby's family never got to say goodbye," Chandler said. "If prison officials had acted properly, she would not have had to die alone."
Matthew King
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