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| Suit Blames Utah Prison for Inmate's Death |
| By Salt Lake Tribune |
| Published: 08/05/2003 |
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Prison workers ignored an inmate's pleas for help and allowed him to vomit blood for nearly an hour before providing him with medical care -- a lapse that resulted in his death, according to a lawsuit. Roger C. Lopez was 23 when he died in the Utah State Prison on April 29, 2001. Autopsy results were inconclusive, but showed Lopez suffered substantial internal bleeding and a ruptured blood vessel in his heart. The suit, filed recently by Lopez's mother, Roberta Martinez of Idaho, alleges that when Lopez began vomiting blood and complaining of difficulty breathing, and despite repeated calls for help by Lopez and other inmates, 'the prison staff waited at least 45 minutes after Mr. Lopez first began experiencing these symptoms . . . before they proceeded to Mr. Lopez's cell to provide him with medical care,' the suit said. By then, Lopez had stopped breathing and his heart was no longer beating, according to the lawsuit. He was taken to the prison infirmary, but efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead, the suit said. The wrongful-death suit, which also names 20 prison staffers as defendants, seeks a jury trial and an unspecified amount of damages. Charles Sampson, Martinez's attorney, said Lopez had a congenital heart problem and had undergone heart surgery as a child, but was unsure whether the problem contributed to his death. Martinez is 'very upset,' he said, 'because word came out of the prison he was in distress for quite a long period of time before anybody responded.' Corrections officials referred questions to Sharel Reber, the department's attorney at the Utah Attorney General's Office. Reber did not return a call seeking comment on July 28. Corrections 'owed a duty to Mr. Lopez to render immediate medical assistance,' the suit said. But, it alleges, the department had no clear policy for responding to inmates' medical needs, 'adopted a custom and practice of failing to provide reasonable and necessary emergency care,' and failed to train and supervise officers regarding inmates' medical treatment. Lopez was serving time for a pair of 1996 convictions for third-degree felony assault by a prisoner and a misdemeanor count of assault on a correctional officer. He also was convicted in 1999 of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person. He was sent to prison in April 1996 at age 18 after he assaulted a fellow inmate and injured two counselors at a juvenile facility. |
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