Follow-up to: A Mother Shares Her Story - Leon County Jail & Corizon sued for wrongful death of inmate with mental illness

George's Note:

Amy from Stop Prison Abuse Now sent me the breaking news story featured below. As I noted in the previous blog under that, Alvina Harris's daughter Shanike died while under the "care" of Corizon doctors and nurses. Corizon has over 600 malpractice lawsuits pending for horrific practices as profiled in The Palm Beach Post's award winning series that detailed gross medical negligence. Please check out a dozen articles by PBP's Pat Beal by clicking on her name. Corizon's malfeasance is not isolated to Florida, click here for nationwide abuses: Corizon Horror Stories. 

Tallahassee Democrat

 

LCSO, jail healthcare staff facing wrongful death suit

 Karl Etters, Democrat staff writer

5:38 p.m. EDT July 27, 2016

Shanike Miller was arrested in September 2013 after she was accused of stealing $300 worth of prescription drugs from a Tallahassee CVS Pharmacy.

Charged with grand petit theft, the 36-year-old spent the next few months at the Leon County Jail. On Dec. 28, 2013, Miller was dead of liver failure.

Miller wasn’t supposed to be given the mood stabilizer Tegretol while being held in jail, her family claims in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, its medical provider, Corizon Health, and the jail’s lead doctor.

The Fort Lauderdale resident died from liver failure, the lawsuit says, which was related to a reaction to the drug.

After Miller was arrested and taken to the Leon County Jail, she was seen as per protocol by the facility’s doctor, Marcia Garcia.

A psychological evaluation, court records say, concluded Miller was “irritable, hyperverbal, closed … hearing voices, paranoid,” and was started on three drugs, including Tegretol.

The lawsuit, filed on July 6, claims the mood stabilizer should not be prescribed without completing blood-work and that Miller refused the medication several times.

In December 2013, Garcia noted Miller was showing signs of jaundice but kept her on the drug without completing a blood test, which the lawsuit says is standard medical procedure. Yellowing skin, a symptom of jaundice, is also listed as a problem with taking Tegretol, according to the Food and Drug Administration’s medication guide.

On Dec. 18, Miller was transferred to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare with liver failure. A day later, she was taken to Shands Hospital in Gainesville and diagnosed with acute liver failure. Nine days later, she died.

The lawsuit, filed by Tallahassee attorney Douglas Lyons, contends that Corizon, LCSO and Garcia treated Miller negligently by failing to perform pre-medication blood tests. They also didn't stop giving her Tegretol when Miller showed signs of jaundice and delayed getting her to the hospital for two days.

The lawsuit further contends all the defendants knew Corizon was providing “minimally adequate medical care for inmates at the Leon County Jail.”

Corizon is a Tennessee-based company which has been a major contractor with the Florida Department of Corrections since 2013. Corizon ended its state contract early in May.

The attorney representing LCSO did not return a call for comment Wednesday.