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| Lawsuit alleges inadequate care |
| By Kansas City Star |
| Published: 12/06/2004 |
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The family of a former Raytown woman who died in a Missouri prison has filed a federal lawsuit alleging she was denied adequate medical care. In addition, investigators from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice returned to the prison in Vandalia, Mo., last week to interview inmates and staff members about allegations of medical conditions and other problems there. Virginia Terry of Camdenton, Mo., alleges in the lawsuit that her daughter, Al'Deana Simmons, complained of severe illness but was ignored by medical and prison staff at the women's prison in Vandalia. Simmons was pronounced dead after being found unresponsive in her cell on July 2, 2003. Her death certificate lists the cause of death as a ruptured aneurysm. The day before she died, Simmons called her mother and said she was losing her vision. The lawsuit alleges "deliberate indifference to the decedent's obvious serious medical condition" caused her death and was a violation of her Eighth Amendment right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment. Simmons, 33, had been serving a four-year sentence out of Boone County for forgery. The lawsuit also lists as plaintiffs Simmons' two sons and a daughter, who live in Jackson County. The lawsuit names as defendant Correctional Medical Services Inc., a private company of St. Louis that has a contract to provide medical care in all Missouri prisons and those in several other states. Ken Fields, spokesman for the company, said he could not discuss a prisoner's medical case file without consent of the prisoner or her representative. But he defended the quality of care provided. The lawsuit also names the Missouri Department of Corrections and the superintendent of the Vandalia prison and lists as many as 20 unnamed employees of the state or Correctional Medical Services. |
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