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Friday, July 17, 2009
N.M. Prisons Face Suits Over Care
By Scott Sandlin
Journal Staff Writer
Medical and other treatment of prisoners at facilities throughout the state has come under attack in lawsuits now pending in federal court.
The lawsuits allege that failure to treat serious medical conditions led to severe infection and even death and, in one case, that female prisoners were sexually abused by an employee in the Grants prison medical unit.
A medical malpractice complaint filed this week against former prison medical contractor Wexford Health Sources Inc., Corrections Secretary Joe Williams, medical professionals and others on behalf of a former Penitentiary of New Mexico inmate alleges catheterization that was not attended to led to severe and permanent damage because of infection.
Martin Valenzuela, 52, now living in Texas, was serving an eight-year prison sentence at the Santa Fe prison in 2006 when he developed a urinary tract problem that led to an emergency hospital admission. The complaint describes lack of medical attention leading up to a January 2007 surgery, lack of a policy for follow-up care and the subsequent loss of medical records by the prison and the hospitals.
Wexford is also defending against a lawsuit filed by an inmate who claimed he was essentially lost in the system for purposes of chemotherapy he needed to treat colon cancer, although he was housed within a few hundred feet of the Los Lunas prison hospital.
Michael Crespin's medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in 2008, but he died before his attorneys could persuade a court to order a videotaped deposition in the case. The lawsuit, now being pursued by a personal representative on behalf of Crespin's estate, has been mired in a fight over what documents must be produced by Wexford.
Lawyers for the estate are demanding documents related to financial contributions, gifts, meals, entertainment by Wexford company officers between 2001 and 2008 to Gov. Bill Richardson, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish or any of the political action committees that might have supported them, including Si Se Puede PAC and Moving America Forward PAC.
Wexford's response: Any claim that the materials are relevant "strains at the bounds of credulity" and the requests are intended to "pressure and embarrass Wexford — not to learn more about the matters which underlie this case."
Additional lawsuits include:
n The family of a federal detainee who died while awaiting a deportation hearing in southeastern New Mexico is suing Management and Training Corp., alleging medical negligence led to Juan Alejandro Guevara Jr.'s death.
n Four women, Mary Lou Collins, Lisa Jaramillo, Kim Chavez and Ann Chavez, who are or were imprisoned at the New Mexico Women's Correctional Facility, claim sexual assaults, batteries and rapes by former Correctional Medical Services employee Roger Bustamante, whose job required him to disburse prescription pills and conduct routine medical treatments.
Bustamante was fired in January 2008, and the alleged sexual abuse began coming to light, the lawsuit says. But the women say that, when they reported the abuse, they were subject to retaliation.
CMS denies any negligence and says the women's claims are barred by the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
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