'Denial of basic treatment': Judge lets medical malpractice suit against ACI move forward

PROVIDENCE – A federal judge is allowing a lawsuit alleging that state Department of Corrections staff failed to provide two incarcerated men with needed medical and mental health care to proceed to trial.

U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy refused to dismiss claims by Luther Parente, 39, and Eric Stewart, 34, that DOC medical staff deprived them of their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment by denying them access to necessary mental health treatment and accommodations for foot injuries they suffered before entering the Adult Correctional Institutions.

“The plaintiffs have produced sufficient evidence, much of which is contested by the medical defendants, that they suffered from serious physical and mental health conditions, and that their treatment was episodic, very delayed, and not adequately responsive to their suffering," McElroy wrote in declining to grant the state’s overarching motion for summary judgment.

The judge noted, too, that Parente and Stewart had produced evidence that, if believed by a jury, indicated “a pattern of unresponsiveness and denial of basic treatment, even in the face of specific recommendations from diagnosing physicians.”

Richard A. Sinapi, who is representing the men, along with Danilo Borgas and Chloe Davis, praised the ruling this week.

“This decision is a beacon of hope and a stark reminder of the injustices that can occur behind bars. The courage of Mr. Parente and Mr. Stewart in standing up against the denial of their basic rights to medical care is both heart-wrenching and inspiring. Their victory is a step towards ensuring that such egregious treatment is never repeated in our correctional facilities,” Sinapi said in an email.

Corrections officials have maintained that medical staff and administrators were attentive to the men’s needs and that any failures to provide specific treatment or devices reflected disagreements in medical judgment.

“Our top priority has been, and will always be, the safety and security of everyone under our purview, staff and inmates alike. As for the particulars of the legal case itself, all comments should come from the Attorney General’s Office, as they represent us in this matter,” JR Ventura, corrections spokesman, said in an email.

Brian Hodge and Timothy Rondeau, spokesmen for Attorney General Peter F. Neronha's office, did not respond to an email inquiry Wednesday.

'A pattern of unresponsiveness’

In the ruling, McElroy observed that Parente had been denied access to a wheelchair or crutches, despite recommendations by doctors at Rhode Island Hospital that he keep weight off a fractured right heel.

According to court documents, Parente fractured his heel jumping from a second-floor window as he fled Newport police.

Similarly, Stewart stated that he arrived at the ACI with a sprained ankle he suffered while playing basketball that was accompanied by discharge instructions from Kent Hospital that he not put weight on his left foot. He claims he was denied crutches and an air cast, as he had worn prior to his incarceration, as well as cold packs.

Both men alleged that staff refused to let them use the elevator and that they were forced to “painfully” go up and down metal staircases to the upper tiers several times a day. They also claim that staff denied them the ability to elevate and ice their injuries, despite doctors’ directives.

Documented mental health disorders

In addition, McElroy noted in the decision that both men entered prison with documented histories of mental health disorders.

Parente had an ACI record of psychiatric complaints going back years, yet his requests for treatment for serious anxiety and insomnia were refused, the ruling states.

More: Forecast: RI prison population will grow almost 30% by 2034. What's driving the increase?

Dr. Martin Bauermeister, chief consulting psychiatrist at the ACI, “contended that only diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are sufficiently 'major' to warrant mental health treatment,” according to testimony, McElroy said.

“The doctor contends that all inmates suffer from anxiety, depression, and insomnia and that those conditions, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, do not warrant psychological treatment in prisons,” the judge continued.

Likewise, the ruling cited Stewart’s psychiatric history going back to age 7 with extensive “documentation of psychiatric disorders suffered even while at the ACI."

Stewart alleged he suffers from PTSD; severe anxiety; and alcohol, cocaine, opiate and cannabis dependence, as well as ADHD, bipolar affective disorder and severe depression. He has a reported history of seizures, hospitalizations and suicide attempts.

McElroy declined to dismiss the claims of negligence against the state, corrections administrators and medical staff, with the exception of those raised by Stewart against registered nurse Nancy Hull.

The state, corrections administrators, and registered nurses Hull, Michelle Garriepy, and Jennifer Mageau were cleared of medical malpractice.

Disability claims

Also to survive were claims that the state, administrators and medical staff violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits discrimination against otherwise qualified individuals on the basis of disability.

McElroy found that Parente and Stewart had “produced sufficient evidence to support a finding by a jury that both plaintiffs suffered from a disability that impeded a major life activity, that reasonable accommodations existed to remove the obstacles to their mobility, and that the medical defendants failed to afford them those accommodations.”

The ACI staff, too, the judge found, had “created genuine issues of material fact around those elements” that are worthy of consideration by a jury.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: ACI hit with medical malpractice, ADA violation lawsuit