Jail staff ignored dying man face-down for days in CA, suit says. Company to pay

Miami Herald

2 days ago

A major health care provider for U.S. jails and prisons has settled a federal lawsuit over the death of Maurice Monk at a Northern California jail, where his family's attorneys said he spent days lying face-down without staff stepping in until after he died.
Wellpath, which has thousands of employees working in corrections facilities in nearly 40 states, will pay $2.5 million to Monk's children, who sued the company within a year of him dying at the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County in November 2021, according to a June 5 news release from Pointer & Buelna, Lawyers For The People, the Oakland-based law firm representing the case.
Joanie Brady, the company's director of external communications and reputation management, declined McClatchy News' request for comment about the settlement June 5.
'Consistent with our policy, Wellpath does not comment on active legal proceedings or related resolutions,' Brady said.
Monk died on Nov. 15, 2021, more than a month after his arrest on a misdemeanor charge, at the Santa Rita Jail, McClatchy News reported in October 2023, when an amended suit was filed. The jail is about a 40-mile drive east from San Francisco.
His arrest stemmed from him not wearing a mask on a bus, according to his attorneys. After he missed a court appearance, he was detained because he and his family couldn't afford a $2,500 bail.
Alameda County sheriff's deputies at the jail and Wellpath medical staff ignored Monk during his final days alive as he lay face-down on his bunk in his cell, with meals, water and his needed medications left to accumulate on the floor, according to the lawsuit.
The Alameda County Sheriff's Office didn't return McClatchy News' request for comment June 5.
According to civil rights attorneys for Monk's family, the settlement with Wellpath comes after Alameda County paid $7 million in 2023 to settle the lawsuit's claims against the county, which was named in the lawsuit, along with several Alameda County sheriff's deputies.
One of the attorneys, Adanté Pointer, said in a statement that Wellpath agreeing to settle the case is an 'admission' that 'they failed to protect and ensure the health and well-being of a man whose life was entirely in their hands.'
Monk had been managing his diabetes and schizoaffective disorder medically before he was jailed, according to Pointer.
Throughout Monk's detention, his family begged jail staff to give him his needed prescriptions, the lawsuit details.
His neglect was captured by multiple deputies' body-worn cameras, his family's attorneys said. The footage of Monk lying motionless showed him surrounded by his urine and body fluids, and was released after the lawsuit's filing, according to legal counsel.
Nine deputies, a doctor and a nurse who worked for Wellpath were criminally charged over Monk's death, KTVU reported. They've pleaded not guilty to the pending charges.
Wellpath's contract with Alameda County is scheduled to expire in 2027, according to Pointer & Buelna.
The company is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and cares for more than 200,000 patients, Wellpath's website shows.
Dozens of other lawsuits alleging wrongful death and negligence have been brought against Wellpath, which filed for bankruptcy in November, NPR reported in December. The bankruptcy filing has led to delays in the civil cases.
Pointer told KTVU that 'bankruptcy affected the litigation of justice.'
Attorney Ty Clarke, of Pointer & Buelna, also represented Monk's family and said his death was 'needless.'
'There is simply no excuse for any medical professionals, no matter the setting, to neglect their primary duties and their Hippocratic oath,' Clarke said.