Latest news with #Pointer&Buelna
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Health
- Miami Herald
Jail staff ignored dying man face-down for days in CA, suit says. Company to pay
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.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Settlement reached after Santa Rita Jail inmate Maurice Monk left dead in cell
(KRON) — Santa Rita Jail's inmate healthcare provider agreed to pay $2.5 million to the children of Maurice Monk, attorneys announced Thursday. The inmate was allegedly deceased inside his jail cell for three days before any sheriff's deputies or health workers noticed in November of 2021. The 45-year-old inmate's worsening mental and physical condition went ignored as he lay face‑down on his bunk. Wellpath nurses continued tossing paper cups with medications into the cell, despite all of Monk's meals and medications remaining untouched, attorneys said. When five Alameda County Sheriff's deputies finally unlocked and entered the cell, one asked, 'Monk, how ya doing buddy?' body camera video shows. 'Monk, Monk, Monk. Are you alright?' the deputy asks the lifeless inmate. They dragged the body off of his bunk and called for a nurse before Monk was pronounced deceased. The Alameda County jail's healthcare provider, Wellpath, is resolving a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Monk's family by paying the $2.5 million settlement, attorneys said. 'This is an admission by the people who are paid millions of taxpayer dollars that they failed to protect and ensure the health and well-being of a man whose life was entirely in their hands,' said civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer, of Oakland-based Pointer & Buelna, Lawyers For The People. In 2023, Alameda County agreed to a $7 million settlement for deputies' roles in Monk's death. In 2021, Monk was arrested for refusing to wear a mask and arguing on a public AC Transit bus during the COVID pandemic. He was booked into jail because he had a warrant for missing a court date, and he couldn't afford to post $2,500 bail. The inmate required medications for diabetes and schizoaffective disorder. Bodycam videos recorded by sheriff's deputies were released after the federal civil rights lawsuit was filed. Deputies who stood at Monk's cell door initially dismissed his unresponsive behavior as 'Monk being Monk,' attorneys said. Monk's family sued several Wellpath nurses and a physician's assistant who never intervened to help him. Wellpath is a private prison health care company with a troubling track record. Attorneys said 68 men have died in Santa Rita Jail custody since 2014, making it one of the deadliest jails in the country. 'Maurice Monk's children will receive some justice for the needless death of their father,' said civil rights attorney Ty Clarke, also of Pointer & Buelna. 'There is simply no excuse for any medical professionals, no matter the setting, to neglect their primary duties.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
