The family of a 52-year-old Bucks County man who died in 2018 of complications from opiate withdrawal in Bucks County prison has filed a wrongful death suit alleging the county and its prison failed to properly monitor and treat his condition despite signs of his worsening medical distress.
Family members of Frederick Adami also allege in the suit that the county has failed to address known weaknesses with its treatment and monitoring policies and practices for inmates experiencing substance withdrawal, despite prior deaths.
 |
| Fred Adami |
The civil suit, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, also alleges the prison attempted to cover up evidence of its alleged negligent conduct by erasing security camera video from outside the cell where Adami was housed.
In a one-page written statement, family members said they filed the legal action to prevent additional “needless deaths” at the jail.
“We intend to hold Bucks County accountable for their lack of oversight for Freddie’s well-being,” the statement read. “Exposing — through our legal action — the county’s shortcomings in caring for addicted persons in custody is the most effective option to compel Bucks County to take the necessary steps to protect addicted inmates in their system.”
Adami’s brother, David, and Heather Giglio, the mother of Adami’s youngest child, filed the suit, which names as defendants the county, PrimeCare Medical, the county’s private prison medical contractor, and various county and prison employees.
The county declined comment Monday through its spokesman Larry King.
Since 2013, four inmates have died as a result of complications related to opiate detoxification at the Doylestown jail. The families of two inmates, who died in 2013 and 2014, sued the county and PrimeCare for wrongful death; those cases were settled out of court for $50,000 and $250,000.
Ten months after Adami died, Philadelphia resident Brittany Ann Harbaugh, 28, died of detox-related complications four days after she was jailed on a parole violation. An attorney representing the Harbaugh family said that hours before her death, she complained in a telephone call she was experiencing severe opiate withdrawal symptoms and chest pain. An autopsy showed Harbaugh had medical conditions commonly related to chronic drug use, including an enlarged heart.
Court documents allege that Adami’s death was foreseeable, preventable and a direct result of “the conduct of the individual and institutional defendants who were aware of the insufficiency of their policies and procedures and had allowed multiple prior inmates to die of opioid withdrawal.” The suit also points out that the county and its officials were well aware of the epidemic of opioid use disorder in the community and policy makers have represented the health crisis as its priority.
Adami, a father of five children, was arrested on an outstanding domestic relations bench warrant shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 27, 2018. According to the lawsuit, Adami had recently used heroin. He was transferred to the county jail where he was booked shortly before 7:30 a.m., according to the suit.
About three hours later, during an intake medical screening with a nurse, Adami admitted to using 20 bags of heroin daily, and that he last used a “couple bags” the day before, according to the lawsuit.
During the screening, Adami told the nurse that he was experiencing vomiting and chills, common withdrawal symptoms; he also had an elevated blood pressure reading, which the nurse noted, the suit alleges. The nurse also noted his appearance was “inappropriate,” he had trouble walking and appeared “very tired.” But in medical records, the nurse discounted Adami’s claim of withdrawal symptoms, noting they were “not witnessed by any (corrections officers) while in reception.”
After three more hours passed, a nurse entered an order for anti-anxiety, diarrhea and nausea medicines to treat Adami’s withdrawal symptoms. A nurse practitioner phoned in the medications without examining Adami, the suit alleges. Adami did not receive any medications until 7 p.m., more than five hours later, and his unidentified cell mate reported that Adami had been frequently vomiting, according to the suit.
Shortly after he received his medications another nurse took Adami’s vital signs, but no other notes about his condition were recorded, according to the suit.
In recorded conversations, Adami’s cellmate said he attempted to tell the nurses and corrections officers about Adami’s worsening condition, but they “blew him off,” according to the suit.
The prison assigned an inmate monitor to observe Adami and record observations every 15 minutes as a supplement to checks corrections officers are required to perform every 30 minutes. Inmate monitors are assigned to inmates under specific circumstances such as suicide threat or medical conditions including drug withdrawal.
But the lawsuit contends that inmate monitors have no medical training to monitor individuals with medical conditions, none of the inmate monitors or corrections officers on duty noted any conversations with Adami, that corrections officers failed to conduct mandatory rounds every 30 minutes, and shift rounds documented in the logs were not performed between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The prison has security camera coverage of the module where Adami was assigned including a camera outside his cell, but prison employees erased video footage after they were instructed to preserve all video related to Adami on Jan. 27 and 28, the suit alleges. As a result, no video exists of the outside of Adami’s cell after 7:17 p.m. on Jan. 27.
The next morning, shortly after 6:20 a.m. the suit states that a corrections officer noticed Adami lying on his bunk with his “eyes open” and entered the cell. Corrections and medical staff began CPR but Adami was declared dead a short time later at a hospital.
A subsequent autopsy, which ruled the death as natural causes, found Adami had an enlarged heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment