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| Dead Fla. Inmate's Family Sues |
| By Orlando Sentinel |
| Published: 05/30/2003 |
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The three children of a woman who died from methadone withdrawal in the Orange County (Fla.) Jail two years ago sued county and jail officials and medical workers recently for more than $10 million. Filed after negotiations between Karen Johnson's family and the county failed, the lawsuit claims the county caused the death of the 43-year-old Orlando woman and tried to cover it up. 'I feel these people murdered my mother, and the lawsuit is the only way we can get justice for her,' said Johnson's 18-year-old daughter, Crystal of Winter Park. 'I feel the county made changes just to avoid being sued.' Johnson's death in June 2001, after jail officials abruptly ended her methadone treatment, prompted an intense, 10-month investigation by more than two dozen community leaders who recommended more than 200 reforms. The suit, filed in federal court by attorney E. Clay Parker, names Orange County, 10 individuals and two health-care companies. By filing in federal court in Orlando, Johnson's children -- William, 24, Crystal and Lindsay, 10 -- are all considered minors and can sue for a larger claim based on violation of Johnson's constitutional rights. The people named in the suit either would not comment or could not be reached recently. Johnson was on daily doses of doctor-prescribed methadone to break an addiction to painkillers when she was arrested two years ago after a minor fender-bender near her east Orange County home. She pleaded with a corrections officer to be allowed to continue her methadone treatment, but the jail's policy at that time forbid doing so. The suit states that Johnson feared going to the jail and asked the corrections officer 'if she was going to be allowed to die in jail like the other inmate,' Susan Bennett. The suit says the officer reassured Johnson that 'she would be taken care of by medical.' In a similar case in 1997,Bennett died after being forced to withdraw from methadone. In 1998, Orange County taxpayers paid a record-setting $3 million to settle with her family. Since then, the county bought insurance with a $1 million deductible that pays up to $10 million. The county already has spent nearly $76,000 in legal fees on the Johnson case. Parker, who also represented Bennett's family, said county and jail officials had failed to change jail policy that could have prevented Johnson's death. The jail's medical guidelines at the time Johnson entered the jail warned that methadone withdrawal could be fatal. Diana Mendez, who is named in the lawsuit and formerly managed the jail's health services, said shortly after Johnson's death, 'It is our belief, for now, that our policies and protocols [not to administer methadone] are correct and complete.' |
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