Pubdate: Wed, 21 May 2003
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2003 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Author: Doris Bloodsworth, Sentinel Staff Writer
Note: Henry Pierson Curtis contributed to this report.

DEAD INMATE'S FAMILY SUES

The three children of a woman who died from methadone withdrawal in the 
Orange County Jail two years ago sued county and jail officials and medical 
workers Tuesday 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 Tuesday.

The suit claims that medical personnel ignored Johnson's doctor's orders 
that she be treated in a psychiatric facility, monitored closely and given 
methadone. Instead, jail officials on May 30, 2001, whisked Johnson from 
Sand Lake Hospital in southwest Orange County to the 33rd Street jail.

For the next several days, Johnson was seen by numerous medical staffers 
named in the suit. They were county jail nurses Vicky Coleman, Eileen 
Jernigan and Candice Ings-Jackson. She also was seen by nurse Joey 
Fernandez and psychiatrist Dr. Albert Albatrosov, who were contracted by 
the county, and by mental-health specialist Michael Austin.

As a result of the county's investigation, Coleman and Ings-Jackson 
resigned. Jernigan remains a nurse at the jail. It wasn't clear Tuesday 
whether the others still work at the jail.

Inmates who have given sworn statements said they pleaded for help from 
corrections officers and nurses but were told to "mind their own business," 
according to the suit.

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 casein 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."

Mendez also said she had known of only two inmates in two years who were on 
methadone. Drug-rehabilitation experts scoffed at her comment, and the 
county's recent figures show the jail averages 25 inmates a month who are 
on methadone.

County officials said Tuesday that in the past year 279 inmates received 
methadone treatment.

As part of the jail reform, the methadone policy was changed in August 2001 
to allow inmates to maintain their treatment behind bars. Two months later, 
Mendez was stripped of her jail responsibilities. She now works as medical 
and mental-health services administrator for the county.

A month after Johnson's death, Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty called 
together more than two dozen leaders from the criminal-justice and 
mental-health community to evaluate problems at the jail and to make 
recommendations.

Some of the reforms have been implemented. The county added nursing 
positions and created a reception center where some inmates with 
mental-health and substance-abuse problems will be assessed. The jail's 
medical unit went through a major overhaul.

As for the coverup allegations, the suit claims that county officials tried 
to pressure the medical examiner to change the cause of Johnson's death. 
The suit states that when Dr. William Anderson, who performed Johnson's 
autopsy, refused to do so, county officials tried to discredit him. 
Anderson later resigned.

Also named in the suit are Orange County, former jail Medical Director Dr. 
Rudy Panganiban, the estate of former jail director Ray McCleese, who died 
earlier this year, jail administrator Don Bjoring and two health-care firms 
that provided medical personnel. The companies are J&C Nationwide Inc. and 
Interim Healthcare Staffing Inc.

Johnson's family said Tuesday that they are glad for the people whose lives 
might have been saved by any changes. But they said they feel little sense 
of justice in their own lives.

Rusty Johnson, Karen's ex-husband who is raising the couple's youngest 
daughter, Lindsay, said it is still heartbreaking to see the effects of 
Johnson's death.

Recently, the child's fifth-grade class took a field trip to the jail. 
Lindsay stayed home.

"It's a hell of a thing for my kids to live with the fact their mother died 
in jail," Johnson said.

TIMELINE

Oct. 25, 2000 -- Karen Johnson, 43, enters daily methadone program to break 
addiction to painkillers.

May 23, 2001 -- A distraught Johnson is taken to Sand Lake Hospital after 
she overdosed on tranquilizers when she learned she would be arrested after 
a traffic accident.

May 30, 2001 -- Johnson is transferred to the Orange County Jail against 
her doctor's orders that she be sent to a private psychiatric facility. At 
the jail, Johnson is no longer able to get prescribed methadone.

June 1, 2001 -- Johnson starts showing severe withdrawal symptoms.

June 2, 2001 -- Johnson suffers uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea, 
hallucinations and tremors. Inmates' pleas for help go unheeded. By late 
afternoon, Johnson has seizures and stops breathing. Paramedics revive her, 
but she arrives at the hospital in a vegetative state.

June 7, 2001 -- Johnson is removed from life support, and she immediately dies.

July 2001 -- Jail Oversight Commission begins investigation into jail problems.

August 2001 -- County changes policy to allow inmates to maintain methadone 
treatment.

October 2001 -- Jail medical services are overhauled.

May 2002 -- Oversight commission recommends more than 200 reforms.

May 20, 2003 -- Johnson's children file a lawsuit for more than $10 million 
against the county, jail and medical officials.
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