An inmate who gave birth inside a cell at the Tennessee Prison for Women has filed suit, alleging nurses and a doctor “alternately ignored and only occasionally checked on” the pregnant woman during four hours of labor. (Photo: Getty Images )

The family of a man who died after falling ill in a West Tennessee prison has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Centurion, the private contractor that provides medical care to the state’s inmates.

It is at least the third lawsuit filed against the company in the past two months — and comes at a time when the Department of Correction is seeking bids for the prison health services contract that is currently with Centurion, a contract likely valued at more than $200 million.

In October, the family of a male inmate at West Tennessee State Penitentiary filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Centurion and two of its doctors in Lauderdale County Circuit Court, alleging they failed to provide appropriate medical care. Michael Langston died last year after spending two weeks in the prison’s infirmary. The lawsuit alleges he had suffered a brain hemorrhage from an apparent stroke.

In September a female prisoner filed suit against the company and one of its doctors in Davidson County Circuit Court after she gave birth in a Tennessee Prison for Women medical wing cell without a doctor present. That lawsuit alleges nurses accused her of faking labor and that the unsanitary conditions during the jail cell birth led to a serious infection for her newborn son. The company in its legal response denied the allegations.

The lawsuit filed in Nashville federal court on Tuesday alleges that Jason Hendrix fell ill in December after eating undercooked chicken served in the Turney Center Industrial Complex, a state prison in Hickman County.

Hendrix, 38, became weak, fell and hit his head and shoulder against a metal commode in his cell, the lawsuit said. He then began to suffer severe stomach pains and began bleeding from his rectum, prompting nurses to conclude he had ingested a significant number of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, a common pain reliever, according to the suit. He was not transported to the hospital until two days after he began bleeding, and medics could not detect a pulse during the ambulance ride to the hospital, the suit said. Hendrix fell into a vegetative state but remained cuffed to the hospital bed by the ankle, the suit said.

He died Dec. 17.

The lawsuit also names a physician and three nurses employed by Centurion, alleging they failed to provide proper care after Hendrix’s condition began worsening and he was losing a significant amount of blood rectally.

Attorneys for Centurion did not respond to a request for comment.

An attorney representing Hendrix’s family declined to comment during a pending legal case.

The three lawsuits come after scrutiny of the medical services provided at a Nashville women’s prison — and a series of controversies at the Tennessee Department of Correction.

In October, Centurion’s health services administrator and the regional health administrator were  removed from their positions  at the Tennessee Prison for Women after an audit revealed that medications were not being given out in a timely manner. The top three wardens at the facility were demoted or retired over “concerns” about the effectiveness of their leadership, including their failure to manage the medical contractors.

Additionally, two inmates filed a federal lawsuit seeking class-action status against the state and Centurion earlier this year alleging inadequate treatment of inmates with hepatitis C.

The lawsuit follows a Tennessean investigation into the treatment of hepatitis C in prison, which revealed thousands of inmates have the potentially life-threatening liver disease but only a rare few receive the costly but effective treatment. The department argued that regularly testing an inmate’s blood amounts to treatment, but experts say that will do nothing to actually cure inmates of the disease.

On Tuesday, Department of Correction Commissioner Tony Parker requested Gov. Bill Haslam approve an additional $4 million during the department’s budget hearing, saying the funds would go toward “increasing the number of offenders treated for hep C within our prisons.”

For more information, please visit the source link below.