Recent news reports about a death in police custody have highlighted the tragic negligence that can sometimes affect those in police custody. According to reports, a 42-year-old arrestee was in police custody and allegedly left in a cell while complaining about going through heroin withdrawal and throwing up, all without medical care. When he later died, the family filed a lawsuit.
In cases like this, a wrongful death suit seems like the correct option, and the case is likely strong. When someone is in police custody, they take responsibility for your health and safety, and any negligence in identifying illness and administering treatment is on them. In this particular case, it seems that the nurse and healthcare company involved in caring for patients in the prison might also be a fair target for this lawsuit. Whether the problem is heroin withdrawal or some other life-threatening condition, the case should turn out the same: damages should be paid to the victim’s family.
For a free case review on a wrongful death case, contact our Philadelphia wrongful death lawyers at The Reiff Law Firm right away at (215) 709-6940.
The Case of Johnathan Lau
According to reporting from the Inquirer, Johnathan Lau was arrested under suspicion of theft and held before being charged on that offense and on an outstanding bench warrant. From there, he was left in police custody, where he complained that he was going through heroin withdrawal. Reportedly, a police officer denied that there were any signs of that, but a nurse working for a healthcare company noted that he vomited and slumped down and said he should go to the hospital, but no one ever took him. He died later in custody.
This case is tragic, given that not only did he affirmatively tell the police about his medical emergency, but they allegedly ignored him; and not only did a nurse highlight the medical emergency, but she notified the police, who allegedly ignored him further.
Legal Analysis of Withdrawal Deaths in Police Custody in Philadelphia
When it comes to filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the police, our Philadelphia wrongful death lawyers would need to analyze the specifics of any case before bringing it. However, there are four major elements to consider in the case:
Duty to Render Aid
Before you can really analyze any question of who would be at fault or how you can hold someone responsible for an injury or death, you need to find a legal duty that they owe the victim. When police hold someone in custody, they take responsibility for that person’s safety. This means that if they need emergency medical care, the police are typically found to have an affirmative duty to render them aid. This means they must provide first aid or take them before a nurse/doctor – or, when the situation calls for it, take them to the hospital.
In a case like this where the officers are affirmatively told about a medical condition, that should trigger the need to keep an eye on the subject. Especially when the condition is serious and life-threatening – as is the case with heroin withdrawal symptoms and most cases of withdrawal – the duty might even require the officers to take them straight to the hospital for monitoring and withdrawal medication immediately.
In any case, the aid rendered needs to be reasonable, based on what a reasonable officer should do in the same situation.
In the case of the nurse – conceivably hired by the jail – the duty would be similar. Except there, the duty placed on the nurse is a bit different given the additional medical training the nurse has. Instead of judging based on what a reasonable officer would/should do, we would judge by what a reasonable nurse with similar training and experience would do to render aid.
Negligence in Wrongful Death Cases
A wrongful death case has four elements: you need to show that there was a legal duty, that it was breached, and that the breaching party’s errors or mistakes caused the victim’s death. Here, the duty would be the duty to render aid, a breach would be failing to do so by ignoring the subject’s vomiting and pleas for help, and that likely caused the death.
Two potential issues here are if the police truly did not see any signs of withdrawal, and whether it was too late to intervene anyway. With the first issue, if the police truly had no notice that Mr. Lau was going through withdrawal, they might be excused. However, the fact that he told them he was withdrawing should be enough to trigger them to follow up, have on-site staff examine him, and potentially take him to the hospital. Failing to address a life-threatening condition like withdrawal is quite far from reasonable.
As for whether intervention would have helped Mr. Lau, early intervention usually does help. There would need to be some pretty extreme symptoms already present for a patient to be past the point of saving, which it seems was not the case when he was arrested.
§ 1983 Lawsuits
Most claims against police officers are filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 – a federal statute that allows people to sue the government when they are the victim of an infringement of their statutory or constitutional rights. Here, letting someone die without due process is, at the very least, a deprivation of their rights.
There is also a history of cases of inmates dying in custody being analyzed under this framework during medical emergencies. Withdrawal symptoms likely should qualify as a medical emergency.
There is also an additional question as to whether you could sue for something like Mr. Lau’s situation, given that he was in jail for over 48 hours without charges. Police have limits on how long they can detain someone without charges, but the fact that Mr. Lau allegedly had a bench warrant might complicate matters. In any case, by the time 48 hours have passed, an arrestee should likely have begun transfer for their warrant.
Qualified Immunity
Police generally have qualified immunity, which is a legal principle that says they cannot be sued for something unless a court has held in the past that a parallel situation was, in fact, a violation of the victim’s rights. In a case like this, the police might be able to rely on the claim that they did not see withdrawal symptoms or that there has never been a previous case of withdrawal, even if there have been cases involving other medical emergencies. However, this qualified immunity claim might not help them defend their claim anyway, given that the symptoms eventually seemed severe and were ignored nonetheless.
Qualified immunity might not apply to the nurse or the healthcare company the nurse worked for, given that these were private actors and not government employees. However, if they were government contractors, they might receive some protection as well.
Call Our Wrongful Death Lawyers in Philadelphia Today
Call The Reiff Law Firm’s Bucks County wrongful death lawyers for help with a potential case by dialing (215) 709-6940.
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