Holly Jean Casey
Attorneys for the estate of a woman who died two years ago on the floor of a Multnomah County jail cell have reached a $905,000 settlement in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county, its health care provider and a former county nurse.
The woman, Holly Jean Casey, 36, died from pneumonia after her repeated calls for help were ignored by deputies and jail nurses.
The lawsuit accused the county and jail nurses of negligence and wrongful death for failing to help Casey, who complained for hours that she couldn’t breathe. Casey’s death also prompted a Multnomah County district attorney’s review that found she died of pre-existing conditions that were ignored or not properly treated by county nurses working in the jail.
]Under the negotiated settlement, former Multnomah County nurse Glenda J. Baxter, who failed to treat Casey and was later fired, will pay $600,000; the county $300,000; and the company that contracted to provide nursing services, Maxim Health Systems, $5,000. Attorneys for the county, Baxter and Maxim declined to comment.
When jailers did check on Casey, a homeless heroin addict, they found her lying in a semi-fetal position in her underwear and a T-shirt, dead on the floor of a cell in the Multnomah County Detention Center.
Attorney Matthew D. Kaplan, who represented Casey’s estate along with attorney Hala J. Gores, said Baxter and others regarded Casey as “just another junkie.”
Holly Jean Casey
Casey was arrested Jan. 3, 2008, by Portland police for failure to appear in court on a second-degree theft charge, a misdemeanor. Casey told the officers she was on her way to a hospital to be treated for a recurrence of pneumonia. At least she’d be warm and dry in jail, the arresting officer told her, according to the suit.
Casey told officers her spleen, which fights infection, had been surgically removed. The police advised jail staff of her medical condition and she was booked into the jail at 2:46 p.m. About an hour later, Casey was evaluated by a jail nurse, Rebecca Watts Jacobs, who gave her water, concerned about dehydration.
Watts Jacobs noted that Casey was sick with a history of recent pneumonia, had no spleen and suffered from lupus, and asked another nurse to listen to Casey’s lungs. Both nurses, the lawsuit argued, failed to use a pulse oximeter to check Casey’s oxygen saturation level, even though one was available and would have indicated Casey needed emergency medical care.
Watts Jacobs cleared Casey for incarceration without housing restrictions. About 5:08 p.m. , Casey was locked in a cell. She soon turned in a medical request form, writing: “I’ve got pneumonia for 3 days. Won’t go away. I have difficulty breathing. It hurts bad. I have no energy. I have lupus and no spleen.”
The form was ignored by jail guards and nursing staff. Throughout the night, Casey cried for help and pushed the call light to summon aid, but her pleas were ignored. At least 20 inmates, though, heard her cries, the suit said.
By 10:25 p.m., after a shift change, a sheriff’s deputy asked Casey through an intercom what was wrong. She told him she had chest pain and trouble breathing. He sent another deputy to check on her. Just before 11 p.m., a jail nurse diagnosed Casey with asthma and another brought her an Albuterol inhaler without a doctor’s prescription, instructing her to take several puffs.
But Casey’s condition worsened through the night and into the next morning. She yelled for help, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, please help me,” banged on the call-light buzzer for hours and the jail cell door crying for help. In response, deputies yelled at her to shut up. Another deputy yelled at her to get off the floor, while a third turned off the buzzer without checking on Casey, the lawsuit said. By about 5 a.m., one deputy called for a medical nurse, Baxter, and asked the nurse twice to check on Casey, but Baxter never did.
By 7:32 a.m., a new deputy on shift checked on Casey and found her cold, blue and not breathing. An autopsy found Casey died of advanced pneumonia, with a contributing factor of not having a spleen.
READ – Inmate’s death sparks inquiry, Portland Tribune, January 22, 2008
Well, After 13 years as a volunteer county jail chaplain I must say Holly’s death was the reason I became a professional advocate.
When I arrived two days after the death to do my regular visits I will never forget the fear that perminated the dorm that day. All the women were crying and so afraid they might be next. The inmates could not wait to tell me what happened to their fellow friend.
Several inmates who were trustees at the time were the ones who found Holly dead. They were forced to check in on her come morning because the deputy told them to do it, the death shook the place in fear. Some of the inmates had listened to Holly’s screams for help on her buzzer and it was stated to me that the deputy was sitting with his feet on the counter ignoring her pleas for help.
I was so upset I started writing every state legislator and official in Salem to see what could be done. I can remember the faces of the officials at the health department when I told them she had died inside their jail because no one would listen to her regarding her illness. Budget season was approaching and the night nursing staff was going to be cut.
I pleaded my case that one death was to many and not to cut the staff inside the jail. Drive by frustration and anger I joined the Multnomah county health departments council and I am now the Vice Chair and I was able to prove that the jail needed more staff with better controls.
The health department was determined to fix this problem of not enough staff at night the night they heard my story, by not cutting nursing staff and by getting better access to inamtes needs through better evaluation methods at booking.
As of today the jail is quiet and NO one goes without the necessary care (I see to that by being a good volunteer). I must also add that many great changes have been done since this event like the adoption of single bunking. No more crammed living quarters.
All of this because the directors of the health department really do care what happens to the men and women who enter the justice system. I know people care, they just need more funding and more advocates.
It is a good thing that “Amy A” is making sure that conditions are better at the jail. The people that ignored Holly Jean Caseys pleas should be tried in courts of law and sentenced per verdict by the jury. People who are employed at jails, etc need to remember that regardless of why these people are in jail, they are human beings that still should be treated with respect. What a difference it would make if these people followed the saying “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” The problem is, people entering jail are sometimes looked down on by some jail staff, and mistreated accordingly.