An inmate who said a Santa Barbara County Jail deputy forced him to carry heavy items following his hernia surgery and denied him proper medical care afterward is suing the county Sheriff’s Office and jail staff for medical malpractice.
In the hand-written lawsuit filed on Jan. 5 in the Anacapa Division of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court, Robert Eldon alleged that the weight of the property box, mattress, and bedroll he was forced to carry to his jail cell caused surgical mesh to rip and move in his abdomen. Circulation to his right testicle was cut off, causing it to swell to the “size of a melon,” he stated.
Medical care was denied to him several times between June 13 and July 21, 2016, Eldon alleged.
Eldon said in the lawsuit that he was denied treatment for his testicle, and a nurse with Corizon Health denied him the pain medication he was prescribed following the surgery, instead giving him Tylenol.
He attempted to seek medical treatment by going “man down,” according to the lawsuit, but was “chicken-winged” by two jail deputies and forcefully put back in his cell.
On another occasion, Eldon alleges a nurse “laughed hysterically” at his testicle. Eldon claimed he submitted more than 20 grievances that have yet to be addressed.
“Whenever an agency such as those involved within this complaint have less than zero compassion for other humans … justice demands punishment, restitution, and an example be made of persons who are inconsiderate of the people who depend upon them for their care,” Eldon wrote in the lawsuit.
In a similar lawsuit filed on Jan. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, inmate Larry Marvin alleges he was denied anti-rejection medical for his newly-transplanted kidney. The kidney was rejected, according to the complaint.
Officials from the jail and Corizon Health told the Sun they were unable to comment on active litigation. Corizon is contracted with Santa Barbara County to provide medical care for the jail’s inmates. It’s not the first time the Tennessee-based company has come under scrutiny.
Corizon and the jail have been subject to numerous lawsuits—both state and federal—from inmates and others regarding its care to county jail inmates.
Martha Harbin, Corizon’s director of external affairs, had previously told the Sun that the existence of a lawsuit isn’t indicative of the quality of medical care provided or any wrongdoing.
A Corizon doctor criticized the design of the jail itself for making it difficult to provide proper medical care to inmates.
“Despite the difficult operating environment and the fact that our patients enter our care far sicker than the general public,” Corizon’s Dr. Woodrow Myers wrote in a statement to the Sun, “in many cases our patients’ health care outcomes are significantly better than those of the general public.”
Eldon is asking for $10 million in damages, according to the lawsuit.
This article appears in Jan 12-19, 2017.