15 Jul Federal Judge holds that counties may be held liable for reckless decisions to hire private medical companies they know will likely not provide adequate care.
In a notable ruling against El Paso County in the lawsuit resulting from the gruesome and preventable death of Cristo Canett on April 26, 2022, United States District Judge Daniel D. Domenico recently held that claims may be brought against a County that recklessly hired Wellpath caregivers they knew probably would not provide constitutionally adequate medical care to inmates.
After being asked by the County to dismiss all claims against them, the Plaintiffs demonstrated to Judge Domenico’s satisfaction that the County could properly be held liable for deliberate indifference in its decision to rehire Wellpath after terminating an earlier contract with them for their reportedly inadequate performance. Wellpath did not move to dismiss the direct claims stated against the company or involved Wellpath caregivers.
Judge Domenico explained his holding against El Paso County as follows: 78 – Order re MTD
“Plaintiff’s direct-liability claim is based on the premise that when a “County is faced with actual or constructive knowledge that its agents will probably violate constitutional rights, [it] may not adopt a policy of inaction.”…[I]f a prison official has knowledge of a substantial risk of serious harm to inmates, he is not deliberately indifferent to that risk unless he is aware of and fails to take reasonable steps to alleviate that risk.”
Accepting the well-pled allegations in the complaint as true, they are more than sufficient to support that conclusion. The complaint alleges Wellpath understaffed its jails, assigned nurses to practice outside their scope of licensure, failed to screen for medical or mental health needs on intake, failed to hospitalize inmates with obvious medical needs, and would presume that inmates were faking or exaggerating their symptoms. Doc. 1 at 21.
These practices allegedly led to at least six other inmate deaths on Wellpath’s watch before Mr. Canett’s. Id. at 22–28. The complaint also alleges the County knew about this, and not only knew about it, but fired Wellpath for this very reason. Id. at 39. It alleges that the replacement contractor, Armor, said the system it inherited from Wellpath was out of compliance and under a serious backlog of critical tasks. Id. at 40.
It alleges that the former El Paso County Sheriff expressed concerns both before and after rehiring Wellpath about its failure to provide adequate medical care. Id. And it alleges that despite this, the County rehired Wellpath on what was supposed to be a temporary basis, but has since renewed that contract every year. Id. None of these allegations, alone, might be enough to state a claim of this sort. But together, they are sufficient.”
Wellpath is the nation’s largest private prison health contractor, responsible for caring for more than 300,000 patients in 37 states. Over the past several years, numerous lawsuits nationwide against CCS and its successor Wellpath for deliberate indifference, principally involving allegations of delayed, denied, and grossly inadequate patient care resulting in death and severe injury.
Many of these cases also involve allegations of glaringly insufficient staffing and Wellpath caregivers practicing outside the scope of their licensure. As stressed recently by United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, these cases have also spurred an array of investigations and media reports across the country regarding the experiences of incarcerated people dependent on Wellpath caregivers.
The death of Cristo Canett is yet another important example of such cases.
After driving himself to a hospital emergency room because of his severe back and flank pain, Mr. Canett was arrested while still waiting to be seen by a doctor to the conscious awareness of the arresting officer.
Shortly thereafter, upon his arrival at the El Paso County Jail, Mr. Canett informed staff of his emergency symptoms yet was repeatedly denied sufficient medical care.
Mr. Canett’s alleged mistreatment continued during his receiving screening conducted by a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), during which he clearly demonstrated signs of extreme and dire pain yet received no physical assessment, taking of vitals, or any urgent referral for medical attention by a qualified provider.
Various involved jail deputies sought the assistance of the medical unit in response to Mr. Canett’s audible moaning and perceptible suffering. Yet the Wellpath Charge Nurse reportedly refused to house Mr. Canett in the medical unit or provide him with the evaluation he so urgently needed. Instead, she instructed an on-duty EMT to deliver inadequate over-the-counter pain medications (Ibuprofen and Tylenol) hours after the deputies’ repeated requests for medical intervention.
At 1:41 a.m., Mr. Canett was pronounced dead due to a perforated duodenal ulcer. The lawsuit claims Mr. Canett could readily have been saved had he been provided with proper and timely medical and surgical interventions.
Judge Domenico’s strong refusal to dismiss the claims against the Board of County Commissioners of the County of El Paso Colorado (BOCC) and El Paso County Sheriff Joseph Roybal is significant. His ruling has placed the County defendants themselves in a position of accountability for their own deliberate indifference in hiring companies they know likely won’t provide the necessary care. For other counties considering rehiring private contractors in the future, this ruling could sound more like an alarm.