Hillsborough County to pay $875,000 for opioid withdrawal death at Valley Street jail

Jun. 13—Insurers for Hillsborough County have paid out $875,000 to settle claims brought by the parents of Nicholas Sacco, the young Manchester man who died from opioid withdrawal while incarcerated at the Valley Street jail.

Jail Superintendent Willie Scurry and Joanne Sacco signed settlement papers on May 31. As usual with settlements involving the jail, the papers include a gag order that prevents the Saccos from disparaging the jail and say only that the matter is resolved.

The $875,000 payment from the county's insurer, Primex, settles the case against the Hillsborough County Department of Corrections and three nurses.

The Sacco's lawsuit, filed in April 2020 in U.S. District Court in Concord, remains alive against the practice that provides physician care at the jail, American Institutional Medical Group LLC, and one of its owners, Dr. Christopher Braga.

Sacco, who was 24 when he died, was on a five-bag-a-day heroin habit when he was jailed on a parole violation in May 2019. According to extensive documents filed in the case, jail nurses ignored Sacco's repeated requests to go to the hospital once he started experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

Over three days, he experienced nausea, vomiting, cramping and heart rates of 100 or more. Nurses never contacted AIMG; they gave Sacco a Styrofoam cup and urged him to hydrate.

"They treated him worse than a dog," his mother, Joanne, a school teacher, in an April interview. "They just think he was a druggie. They were judge, jury and executioner."

The claims against the county dealt with denial of constitutional rights, negligence and violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The county had said the level of Sacco's care did not rise to deliberate indifference, which was required for a case to go to trial, and there was not a widespread policy or practice that condoned such care.

Shortly after his death, jail officials announced they would begin steps for medically assisted treatment, which involves providing drugs such as Suboxone or morphine to help ease inmates from addiction.

Scurry did not return a telephone call or an email that included a host of questions, which include current status of medical care at the jail. County Commission Chairman Toni Pappas, R-Manchester, said she could not discuss the settlement but expressed a willingness to discuss jail health care at a later date.

The attorney who represents the Saccos, Anthony Carr, also did not respond to inquiries from a reporter.

The settlement comes as U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante is weighing summary judgment, a key decision that will decide whether a lawsuit can go to trial.

According to filings, the Saccos have demanded $3 million from AIMG to drop the lawsuit.

In filings, lawyers for AIMG stress that jail-employed nurses never consulted AIMG about Sacco and shouldn't be responsible for the care he received.

The only contact anyone with AIMG had with Sacco is when he collapsed, and the firm's physician assistant attempted life-saving measures. The physician assistant shot himself in front of his wife earlier this year at a shopping center parking lot.

Sacco's lawyers say the jail contract with AIMG makes the practice responsible for updating nurses with evolving standards of care, and AIMG is responsible for a quality assurance program.

There is no such program, according to court papers.

AIMG said the jail superintendent is responsible for all operations at the jail, including provision of medical services.

The firm also said it is not responsible for creating a quality assurance program.

The jail has settled other claims, including $1 million in 2021 to the sister of Manchester resident Fern Ornelas, who left the jail paralyzed in 2013 for reasons that were never made clear.

He died in 2019.