Oklahoma Pays $1M To Settle Prison Wrongful Death Claim: Oklahoma has agreed to pay $1,050,000 to the mother of a prison inmate who died in 2018 at the age of 21 that a federal medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit described as a “tragic and utterly unnecessary death … caused by the callous and deliberate indifference to his serious medical condition shown by medical providers and correction officers” at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington, Oklahoma.
The lawsuit reportedly alleged that Joshua England sought medical treatment for severe abdominal pain on at least five occasions over the course of a week in May 2018: on May 22, he reported to a LPN at the prison medical clinic that he had been vomiting blood during the night (the LPN noted that he was guarding his abdomen but did not perform a complete physical exam and instead gave him Pepto Bismol); on May 23, he complained again to the same LPN and also to a PA that he had bloody stools and could hardly breathe due to abdominal pain (he was provided a laxative and returned to his prison cell); on May 24, he was refused medical treatment; on May 26, he reported that his pain was so bad that he was unable to lie down (a different LPN contacted a physician who reportedly ordered ibuprofen); on May 29, he was seen again in the prison medical clinic where he was documented to have lost 12 pounds in less than one week and was sweating profusely with a heart rate of 158 (he reportedly chose to return to his cell where he was observed to be incoherent but allegedly refused to return to the prison medical clinic).
England reportedly was serving a 343-day sentence after pleading guilty to oil theft, fourth-degree arson, conspiracy, and contributing to the delinquency of minors. He was transferred to the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in February 2018, after refusing to participate in the Delayed Sentencing Program for Youthful Offenders. He died with less than three months remaining on his prison sentence.
The family’s lawyer stated after the settlement was announced that England “should never have been in prison in the first place” because England did not have a felony record and he was sent to prison for a nonviolent property offense: “If the state of Oklahoma is intent in locking up so many of its citizens for nonviolent offenses, the state needs to devote far more resources and attention to its correctional system to fulfill its constitutional duty to provide basic medical care for people in its custody.”
If you or a loved one were injured due to deliberate indifference or the lack of appropriate medical care while incarcerated in a prison, jail, or other correctional facility in Oklahoma or in another U.S. state, you should promptly seek the legal advice of a local medical malpractice lawyer in your state who handles prisoner/inmate medical malpractice claims and may investigate your claim and represent you or a loved one, if appropriate.
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