pods
08-19-2005, 08:47 AM
Publication:Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; Date: Friday, August 19, 2005 ;
Section:Arkansas; Page:15
Suit citing miscarriage in jail OK’d to proceed
BY SHARON CRAWFORD ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
A Fort Smith woman who delivered her dead baby inside the Sebastian County jail in 2001 after begging jailers for medical attention can continue with her federal lawsuit against the county and several of its employees, a three-judge panel ruled Thursday.
According to the ruling by a panel of the 8 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis, Talisa Pool, 30, had "constituted a need for medical attention that would have been obvious to a lay person" when she asked to go to the hospital in May 2001.
Pool was beginning a 10-year sentence for manslaughter and had spent six days in jail, asking and at times pleading for medical assistance before she miscarried inside her cell, according to court documents. Doctors determined that the baby was dead before the miscarriage occurred, the documents state.
The ruling was made by appellate Judges Raymond Gruender, William Jay Riley and Pasco Bowman II. The lawsuit may now proceed in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith, although no trial date has been set.
"We’re looking forward to a trial," said John W. Hall Jr., Pool’s attorney. "Once you check yourself into the jail, you’re at their mercy if you need medical attention. Obviously, she needed medical attention, and they didn’t do anything about it."
The individual defendants — Sheriff Frank Atkinson, Jail Administrator Jim Rush, jail nurses Donna Seamster and Charles Wall, and unnamed jailers — appealed their case to the 8 th Circuit last year, claiming that they had qualified immunity and should not be sued in their individual capacities.
The appeal came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Beverly Stites Jones denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on the same basis.
Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability in civil lawsuits unless their conduct clearly violates a law or constitutional right that a reasonable person would understand.
"Based on the facts presented on summary judgment, we cannot say that as a matter of law [the] appellants were not deliberately indifferent in responding to Pool’s miscarriage," Gruender wrote in the opinion.
Jason Owens, a Little Rock attorney who represents Sebastian County, the sheriff’s office and the county employees, said Thursday that he has not decided if they will petition the 8 th Circuit to rehear the case. The defendants have 14 days to make that motion.
"We’re not trying to minimize the unfortunate event," Owens said.
"A miscarriage is not something that is always preventable. ... In this case, it was not preventable."
Atkinson said Pool’s case has changed the procedures for treating pregnant inmates in his 260-bed facility. The situation was unfortunate, he said, but there was nothing the jail staff could do to prevent it.
"We went by what the medical people advised us to do," Atkinson said.
"Now, the least little thing, we send them [prisoners] to the hospital."
Section:Arkansas; Page:15
Suit citing miscarriage in jail OK’d to proceed
BY SHARON CRAWFORD ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
A Fort Smith woman who delivered her dead baby inside the Sebastian County jail in 2001 after begging jailers for medical attention can continue with her federal lawsuit against the county and several of its employees, a three-judge panel ruled Thursday.
According to the ruling by a panel of the 8 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis, Talisa Pool, 30, had "constituted a need for medical attention that would have been obvious to a lay person" when she asked to go to the hospital in May 2001.
Pool was beginning a 10-year sentence for manslaughter and had spent six days in jail, asking and at times pleading for medical assistance before she miscarried inside her cell, according to court documents. Doctors determined that the baby was dead before the miscarriage occurred, the documents state.
The ruling was made by appellate Judges Raymond Gruender, William Jay Riley and Pasco Bowman II. The lawsuit may now proceed in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith, although no trial date has been set.
"We’re looking forward to a trial," said John W. Hall Jr., Pool’s attorney. "Once you check yourself into the jail, you’re at their mercy if you need medical attention. Obviously, she needed medical attention, and they didn’t do anything about it."
The individual defendants — Sheriff Frank Atkinson, Jail Administrator Jim Rush, jail nurses Donna Seamster and Charles Wall, and unnamed jailers — appealed their case to the 8 th Circuit last year, claiming that they had qualified immunity and should not be sued in their individual capacities.
The appeal came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Beverly Stites Jones denied the defendants’ motion for summary judgment on the same basis.
Qualified immunity protects government officials from liability in civil lawsuits unless their conduct clearly violates a law or constitutional right that a reasonable person would understand.
"Based on the facts presented on summary judgment, we cannot say that as a matter of law [the] appellants were not deliberately indifferent in responding to Pool’s miscarriage," Gruender wrote in the opinion.
Jason Owens, a Little Rock attorney who represents Sebastian County, the sheriff’s office and the county employees, said Thursday that he has not decided if they will petition the 8 th Circuit to rehear the case. The defendants have 14 days to make that motion.
"We’re not trying to minimize the unfortunate event," Owens said.
"A miscarriage is not something that is always preventable. ... In this case, it was not preventable."
Atkinson said Pool’s case has changed the procedures for treating pregnant inmates in his 260-bed facility. The situation was unfortunate, he said, but there was nothing the jail staff could do to prevent it.
"We went by what the medical people advised us to do," Atkinson said.
"Now, the least little thing, we send them [prisoners] to the hospital."