Latest news with #NaphCare
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal jury awards $25M to man who lost his leg after Pierce County jail stay
A jury in U.S. District Court for Western Washington has found that NaphCare, the medical provider of the Pierce County Jail, must pay ex-inmate Javier Tapia $25 million for negligence after missing signs of a severe blood clot in 2018 that resulted in the amputation of his leg. In February the Pierce County Council unanimously approved another $1 million settlement to Tapia, as previously reported by The News Tribune. According to court records, jail staff began documenting the deterioration of Tapia's health in September 2018, three months after he was arrested on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle. Tapia began refusing meals, appeared confused and was nonverbal to staff. In October a corrections officer observed Tapia's 'toes were turning black.' Only then was he seen for the first time by a medical doctor, according to the complaint Tapia filed in King County Superior Court in 2021. Once admitted to Tacoma General Hospital that day, Tapia was diagnosed with phlegmasia cerulea dolens and a gangrenous left foot. His leg was amputated below the knee on Oct. 16, 2018, according to the complaint. A jury on April 4 found that NaphCare 'deprived Javier Tapia of his right to adequate medical care under the Fourteenth Amendment' and proved with evidence that NaphCare had a 'widespread or longstanding custom' of care that was 'the moving force that caused his injury' and 'reflected a complete indifference' to Tapia's safety and rights, according to the verdict form. He was awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages from NaphCare, according to court records. In the case with Pierce County, a judge found that NaphCare had a custom of relying on correctional officers for medical monitoring and allowed licensed practical nurses to conduct regular assessments of inmates outside of their nursing scope, according to court records. A corporate medical director that used to work for NaphCare in Alabama testified in the case that NaphCare might have 'prioritized profits over healthcare' because LPNs are generally paid less, and NaphCare was financially incentivized to staff LPNs instead of RNs as a cost-cutting measure, according to court records. At the time, NaphCare told The News Tribune it provided more RN hours than contractually required during Tapia's detention. NaphCare said in a statement to The News Tribune on Monday, 'NaphCare remains committed to our mission to improve and save lives. We are disappointed that the life-saving care provided by our healthcare staff was not acknowledged. Despite the outcome of this case, we believe in the diligence and professionalism of our team. We fundamentally disagree with the outcome and will move forward with appeal.' Ryan Dreveskracht, one of Tapia's attorneys, said Monday that Tapia is in the long process of learning how to use a prosthetic and is trying to walk and run again. He disputed NaphCare's assertions that it did nothing wrong. 'We wouldn't be in this situation if that were the case. Hopefully they're able to take a long look in the mirror and make the policy changes necessary to protect the tens of thousands of people who are housed in their jails — over 430 in 49 states across our country,' he said. 'A corporation with that much power and with that much wealth and that much influence over, frankly, the most vulnerable in our society, can and should do better, and this hopefully sends a message that we expect better.' Dreveskracht said Tapia's ultimate goal in filing the lawsuit was to 'make sure that this didn't happen to anyone else' and to 'make sure that NaphCare changes.' NaphCare did not respond to a News Tribune question asking if NaphCare plans to change its practices as a result of recent legal outcomes. As previously reported by The News Tribune, NaphCare has faced multiple lawsuits, including an undisclosed settlement outside of court with the family of a Bonney Lake man who died in the Pierce County Jail from an infection in 2015. A 2022 wrongful death case in Spokane County resulted in nearly $27 million in damages, according to The Spokesman-Review. Tapia's lawsuit alleges the company has been named in as many as 250 cases in Alabama, Nevada, Virginia, Texas and Washington. Pierce County first awarded NaphCare a four-month, multimillion-dollar contract for jail medical services in 2015 after its previous provider, ConMed, was also accused of substandard medical care. A jury sided with the county when ConMed sued for nonpayment.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'It's a battle': Arizona prison inmates cite healthcare delays amid ACLU's latest move in legal saga
The Brief Advocates and inmates say there are severe healthcare deficiencies in healthcare services at Arizona prisons. ACLU has filed a motion for a receiver to take over the prison healthcare system. NaphCare claims successful staffing and competitive pay at ADCCRR would improve conditions. PHOENIX - Advocates for inmates incarcerated by Arizona's Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry say ADCRR doesn't have what's necessary to run a successful healthcare system, according to the ACLU's motion for a receiver. Lawyers say NaphCare, the for-profit healthcare provider contracted by the state, remains "woefully inadequate." What they're saying "My whole neck – I've lost four inches in my height," said Mary Whatley over the phone. Whatley is incarcerated at the Perryville women's prison, serving time for weapons misconduct. She's having issues with what's called the thecal sac – a protective sheath around the spinal cord – and she needs surgery."I have to have this surgery or I'm going to be paralyzed, is what the nurse practitioners or providers here told me," said Whatley. She has a history of vertebrae fractures and neck trauma that causes numbness, tingling, and pain in both the neck and arms. Whatley doesn't know when her next appointment will be."And it's not just me; there are other women here that need surgeries and care that they're not getting," said Whatley. READ MORE: Pregnant in prison: Expectant mother says nutrition is inadequate at Perryville complex There are more than 100 healthcare positions vacant, the ACLU says via its latest motion in the ongoing Jensen v. Thornell lawsuit. "It's a battle in here," said Erin Taylor. Taylor is another inmate at the Perryville Complex. She has brain cancer."It's very hard to get appointments," she 2022, she had surgery to get some of the tumor removed. She says there was a long wait to receive radiation treatment."For about 15 months, I asked for some aftercare. Radiation didn't begin until July 2023," Taylor also says there's been miscommunication between the prison's medical staff and her oncologist regarding how long her chemotherapy should last. Dig deeper In the motion for a receiver to take over health care throughout the state's prisons, ADCRR is accused of frequently using telehealth when it's clinically inappropriate and dangerous. Due to a judge's order to fix constitutional violations found at trial, court-appointed experts reviewed countless death reports that documented "horrible care" leading to "unnecessary suffering and lost opportunities for treatment and cure" - and ultimately death, per the ACLU. "The ways that those things are happening come through a few structural issues that we identified in our motion. One of these is extreme delays in people getting the care they need. Another one is a real difficulty getting people to specialty appointments." As for the staffing shortage, Beall says there aren't enough physicians providing care; instead, nurses who don't have the same training," said Lauren Beall, an attorney for the ACLU of Arizona. Court expert reports say, "NaphCare offered a paltry two-dollars-per-hour increase to physician salaries between December 2023 and July 2024 and has made none since." The other side A spokesperson for NaphCare says the provider is "proud of our record of successfully recruiting and retaining healthcare staff to work in Arizona's prisons" and "there are more healthcare professionals working in ADCRR prisons than ever before," also saying each of the nine state prisons has a full-time medical director with 13 additional physicians across the state and two more have been hired. There are openings for two full-time and one part-time physician. NaphCare also says pay rates compete with market rates. Meanwhile, ADCRR's responses to court monitors' reports cite challenges with changes through third-party vendors."Passing the buck and saying, 'you know this is NaphCare's responsibility' is simply not an excuse, and it's not going to work for all of the people and all of the families of the people who are incarcerated," said Beall. We've also asked ADCRR about Erin Taylor and Mary Whatley's alleged treatment delays. The department is prohibited from discussing inmates' private and protected health information with third parties, but a spokesperson sent us the following statement:
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pierce County to pay $1M to ex-jail inmate who alleged negligence caused him to lose leg
On Tuesday the Pierce County Council unanimously approved a $1 million settlement offer to a former Pierce County inmate who alleged the jail and its medical provider missed signs of a severe blood clot in 2018 that resulted in the amputation of his leg. Javier Tapia sued Pierce County and Alabama-based medical provider NaphCare Inc. in 2021. The settlement approved this week was only between Tapia and the county. Tapia's case against NaphCare is continuing toward trial in U.S. District Court. In a statement on behalf of Tapia, his lawyers said Tapia is 'glad to put this portion of the case behind him' and 'hopes his case and this settlement causes Pierce County to end its contract with its corporate medical provider, NaphCare, Inc., who it negligently contracted.' 'Javier was dehumanized and subjected to the most inhumane treatment imaginable as he sat for nearly two weeks in a solitary confinement cell while his foot and leg literally rotted off,' said representative Ryan Dreveskracht in an email. 'No amount of money will bring back Javier's leg or take back the unbearable pain, suffering and loss of quality of life that he continues to endure. Javier's only goal is to make this a wakeup call. NaphCare — an Alabama-corporation that advertises itself as a 'billion dollar' company — provides healthcare to some of our state's most vulnerable people. If counties in our state are contracting out their obligations to provide care to people, they must do so in accordance with our standard of community care and the United States Constitution. Putting profit over care, at patient expense, should no longer be a viable option.' Pierce County told The News Tribune in a statement Thursday, 'The County takes seriously our responsibility to those in our care, including individuals in the Jail. However, we don't comment on specific cases.' On behalf of NaphCare, attorney David Perez said Thursday, 'We are confident in the level of care that NaphCare's nurses provided to Mr. Tapia and look forward to proving that the nurses not only acted appropriately and professionally, but also that their actions helped save Mr. Tapia's life.' Tapia was released from prison in 2022 following drug and stolen vehicle convictions, as previously reported by The News Tribune. According to court records, jail staff began documenting the deterioration of Tapia's health in September 2018, three months after he was arrested on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle. Over the course of a month, Tapia was reported to have difficulty responding to staff questions, began to refuse meals and appeared confused and nonverbal. On Oct. 1, a corrections officer observed Tapia's 'toes were turning black,' and, 'For the first time since he began to display concerning behavior, [Tapia] was transported to the jail clinic and seen for the first time by a medical doctor,' according to a complaint Tapia filed in King County Superior Court in 2021. Once admitted to Tacoma General Hospital that day, Tapia was diagnosed with phlegmasia cerulea dolens and a gangrenous left foot. His leg was amputated below the knee on Oct. 16, 2018, according to the complaint. Tapia alleged Pierce County 'owed [him] a duty to exercise ordinary care to protect and care for him while he was in custody' and 'breached this duty by failing to provide appropriate medical care, failing to proper training, policies and procedures on the assessment of persons with apparent medical needs and failing to properly assess and treat [him]' resulting in his injuries. He alleged negligence and medical malpractice from NaphCare as well. According to court records dated Jan. 27, U.S. District Court Judge Kymberly Evanson said a jury could 'reasonably conclude' from the evidence presented 'that Pierce County negligently trained [mental health provider]s on the stabilization plan process and that as a result … failed to properly ensure follow-up and continuity of care to Tapia's medical needs.' The court upheld Tapia's claim against NaphCare that his constitutional rights were deprived based on the company's 'policy of withholding proper medical care,' Evanson wrote in an order denying NaphCare's motion for summary judgment on Jan. 14. Evanson concluded that NaphCare had a custom of relying on correctional officers for medical monitoring and allowed licensed practical nurses to conduct regular assessments of inmates outside of their nursing scope, according to court records. She said Tapia was able to show that any trained registered nurse or LPN 'should have recognized' Tapia's need for medical attention earlier, and said Tapia met the burden of proof that the company's LPN policy caused his 'acute mental status changes' and the progression of his phlegmasia cerulea dolens and subsequent loss of limb. A corporate medical director that used to work for NaphCare in Alabama testified in the case that NaphCare may have 'prioritized profits over healthcare' because LPNs are generally paid less, and NaphCare was financially incentivized to staff LPNs instead of RNs as a cost-cutting measure, according to court records. In response, NaphCare said it provided more RN hours than contractually required during Tapia's detention. As previously reported by The News Tribune, NaphCare has faced multiple lawsuits in the past, including an undisclosed settlement outside of court with the family of a Bonney Lake man who died in the Pierce County Jail from an infection in 2015. A 2022 wrongful death case in Spokane County resulted in nearly $27 million in damages, according to The Spokesman-Review. Tapia's lawsuit alleges the company has been named in as many as 250 cases in Alabama, Nevada, Virginia, Texas and Washington. Pierce County first awarded NaphCare a four-month, multimillion-dollar contract for jail medical services in 2015 after its previous provider, ConMed, was also accused of substandard medical care. A jury sided with the county when ConMed sued for nonpayment.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Spokane County facing unfair labor practice complaints following decision to expand agreement with company providing care to detainees
Feb. 11—Spokane County has been accused of unfair labor practices after renewing and expanding a medical services contract with a private company to treat county jail inmates. In late January, the Spokane County Commissioners voted 3-2 to award a three-year, multimillion-dollar contract to Everhealth, a subsidiary of NaphCare, which has provided medical, dental and pharmaceutical care in the Spokane County Jail since 2017. The vote split along party lines, with Commissioners Chris Jordan and Amber Waldref, both Democrats, voting against awarding the contract to NaphCare. "I'm very concerned, because we've been told by our budget office here at the county that we're expecting budget deficits in the next several years, multimillion-dollar deficits that we're going to have to manage to provide the services that everyone in the county is looking for us to provide," Waldref said. "This contract is costly; I'm not sure how we're going to pay for it." The new contract expands NaphCare's responsibilities to include behavioral health services, which county employees provided in the past. Greg Beeman, a representative of the largest union for county employees, said that addition has left 10 employees out of a job. The county's mental health team will be disbanded on April 30 to make room for NaphCare's behavioral health specialists starting April 1. Beeman said the union has filed two unfair labor practice complaints with the state, as well as two grievances with the county, all related to the county's failure to negotiate with the union prior to awarding the medical services contract. "They first started having conversations about this way back in March of last year," Beeman said. "So we're almost a year down the road, and they really only started talking to us beginning in early November. I think they were seriously behind the times on all this." The county failed to do its due diligence in working with the union prior to the contract being awarded, as well as in negotiating measures to mitigate the impacts on those being let go, Beeman said. Last March, with NaphCare's prior contract set to expire soon, Spokane County issued a request for proposals for medical, dental and pharmaceutical services. Not a single provider responded, Spokane County CEO Scott Simmons said. Everhealth and parent company NaphCare declined to make anyone available for an interview, instead providing a written statement. Company officials declined to say whether they planned to interview any of the outgoing behavioral health team members for jobs. Simmons said that after the first request for bids drew no interest, the county consulted with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. The nonprofit organization advised that the best practices would include all services integrated under one operator. "You have to have really, really tight handoffs on patient care and what the inmates are experiencing, and being able to have integrated solutions so that you don't have any misses in information handoffs between shifts, between personnel," Simmons said. "The flow of data, similar systems, are all beneficial to have under an umbrella approach." The county reissued its request, this time with behavioral health included. NaphCare was the only company to respond out of 19 providers that showed some interest, according to county records. On Jan. 21, Mike Sparber, senior director of law and justice for Spokane County, came to the county commissioners with a choice: In a week's time, they could award the contract to NaphCare or revert services back in-house, as they were prior to the initial agreement with NaphCare in 2017. Sparber told the board the latter was a verbal proposal from the union. Simmons added in an interview that the county offered the union the opportunity to respond to the request for proposals and that the response was "very limited." Beeman contends that the proposal to revert to the pre-2016 model was only a "suggestion" of the options available to the commissioners. Union members have not provided medical services for roughly eight years, and have no control over the work conducted in the Spokane County Jail and Geiger Correctional Facility. "This is kind of a strawman argument that they've created: 'Well, this is the union's solution or how the union is going to get it done,' " Beeman said. "That was merely us saying you do have a different option." NaphCare will be paid $15.9 million for the first year, $16.8 million for the second and $17.3 million for the third. That agreed-upon rate is in addition to a $700,000 contract extension to cover January while a larger contract was fleshed out, as well as $250,000 for an upgraded health records system. The county will pay the company an additional $850,000 over the next three years for the implementation of an agreement between the state and the federal government to offer Medicaid coverage to youth and adult detainees up to 90 days before they are released. The rate for the first year of services, with the January extension, transition costs and off-site medical claims included, is a nearly 62% increase from what the county paid last year for its in-house behavioral team and NaphCare's medical services combined. Part of that rise in costs may be attributed to the current legal landscape for providers who serve incarcerated populations. Like many companies that provide medical services to prisons and jails, NaphCare has faced dozens of lawsuits over the years. In 2022, a federal jury awarded $27 million in damages to the family of a woman who died in the Spokane County Jail. Simmons said the county contacted similar municipalities to compare rates, and that the county's increase is less than that of others in the state. "I can't say for certain that our contract increase as a result of a past settlement, but from any common sense and logical way to look at this thing, when businesses are faced with challenging litigation environments, and they do have unfavorable claims against them, it goes back into the cost of delivering services," Simmons said. Simmons said the rise is also due in part to the addition of more staff and services. Waldref and Jordan voiced concerns about the large cost increase, and how the county will manage it amid financial challenges facing the county. "I also share the concern about any potential impact for county employees in our jail's mental health services department going forward," Jordan said. "As the board knows, we have a really exceptional, dedicated, talented team of staff in that unit, and they've built relationships and partnerships throughout the criminal justice system over the years, including in juvenile detention, therapeutic courts and many other places." If the county commissioners had decided to bring services back in-house, it would have its own associated costs, Simmons said. It would cost $9.4 million per year to staff to the levels prior to the new contract, according to county calculations. Also included in the county's cost analysis is an estimated $500,000 to $750,000 in additional liability coverage, which would need an extra allocation of $10 million to create a liability fund. That's on top of an estimated $350,000 to $500,000 for additional policy coverage, and upward of $1.2 million for IT costs. Concerns about being able to fill all 52 positions, or 60 under the new contract, were also part of the equation for the commissioners, just as it was when NaphCare first arrived in Spokane. The jail couldn't find enough nurses in 2016, so the county signed a six-month, $2.6 million contract with NaphCare. The county's existing nurses initially worked alongside NaphCare staff. That didn't last long. Nearly all of the original nurses left within months, citing concerns about the level of care and cost-cutting measures NaphCare had taken. The company eventually hired a few of those nurses. Simmons said it would take a multiyear effort to get services to the level provided by NaphCare. "Then you have to measure the successes, going back to retention, recruitment and doing things outside of our core competency," Simmons said. "And we're competing for the same group of people that those in the profession, that really focus on health care, do on a daily basis." Beeman said the union's focus is on the mental health team, which is why they suggested keeping those individuals on by bringing all services in house. NaphCare is a for-profit company, so he understands their desire to expand services, and how the county was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Spokane County's difficult situation does not preclude it from taking the legally required steps of negotiating with the union about the request for proposals, and then the impacts for the union members on the behavioral health team. "NaphCare is playing hardball with them, no question, but there may be other solutions for this," Beeman said. "At the very least, we wish that they had started talking to us early on about this, so that for one thing, we might have been able to do more to cushion the blow for the affected employees, and figure out some things in a more timely manner." The county is working through the grievance process and impact negotiations with the union, which may go to arbitration in the coming weeks, Beeman said. The state's Public Employment Relations Committee will run down the unfair labor practice complaints, and could have the power to send the county back to square one in securing a contractor, he added. Simmons said there is not much he can disclose as the process is ongoing, but that the county is committed to seeing it through. "At the end of the day, we care about our employees, and we want to make sure their well-being and impacts are at the forefront," Simmons said.
