Pubdate: Fri, 25 June 1999
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 1999 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Author: Bill Bishop

"COUNTY DECIDES TO SETTLE SUIT OVER DEATH FROM DRUG"

By all accounts, Ricky Herron was a harmless, developmentally delayed,
mentally ill 35 year-old when he died in 1995 from the effects of a
psychiatric drug he was taking against his will under court order
through the Lane County Mental Health Division.

On Tuesday, The Lane County commissioners agreed to pay $65,000 to
settle a lawsuit in which Herron's mother, Constance Baker of
Portland, sought $9.6 million from the county and others involved in
Herron's care.

The settlement came as the county faced a second trial over  the
lawsuit. The county and other defendants won the first trial when a
jury ruled against Baker.

However a federal magistrate ruled that Baker deserved a second trial
in which Lane County would have to defend against allegations of
negligence and federal civil rights violations in its handling of Herron.

County Counsel David Williams said the settlement allowed the county
to escape the time, expense and potential liability of the second
trial. In the settlement, the county denied any wrongdoing in Herron's
death.

Although the lawsuit was no clear victory, the case nevertheless
exposed the potential health hazards that mentally ill people face
when rquired to take powerful psychiatric drugs, said David Oaks,
director of Support Coalition International, a Eugene-based group that
advocates for the rights of the mentally ill.

Oaks said there is a pattern of death among mentally ill people in
their 30's and 40's who are taking psychiatric drugs. He believes
Herron's case is a "small step" toward forcing policy makers to take a
closer look at the government's reliance on drugs to address issues of
mental illness.

"It's hard to say there's a smoking gun in this one case," Oaks said.
"We need to at least talk about this stuff. So this helps break the
silence. This is a small step."

Herron lived at Lane ShelterCare, a county-run shelter for mentally
ill people in Eugene, in 1994. He was under the jurisdiction of the
state Psychiatric Security Review Board, stemming from his 1989
conviction for theft and burglary, according to board records.

Herron's conviction came after he had been caught for the third time
breaking into a coin operated washing machine at his mother's
apartment complex, said Baker's lawyer, Michael Bloom of Portland.

The conviction allowed a judge to place Herron under supervision of
the review board, which could require him to take drugs top manage his
mental illness, Bloom said. Herron was living in Eugene in an
out-patient program operated by the Lane County Mental Health Division.

In December, 1994, county officials prescribed clozaril for Herron. He
didn't want to take the drug, according to the lawsuit. Within a month
he was seriously ill. He died after three weeeks in the hospital,
according to court records.

The cause of Herron's death was neuroleptic malignant syndrome, a set
of symptoms that include stupor, fever, and unstable blood pressure.
The condition was diagnosed only after an autopsy, and the diagnosis
came to light only after mental health workers who knew Herron
divulged the information to Oaks 18 months later.

County mental health officials and Williams, the county's lawyer,
maintain the county's system was not responsible for Herron's death.

County mental health spokesman Rob Rockstroh said society and
government constantly struggle to balance the problems presented by
mental illness and its treatment.

"There are no doubts about it. There are side effects to these drugs,"
Rockstroh said.

Williams said Heron was hospitalized promptly after becoming ill, and
he did not display all the classic symptoms of the syndrome before he
died.

County mental health spokesman Al Levine said he believes there is
nothing wrong with the county's policies and procedures.

"We feel we offer a completely excellent standard of care," said
Levine, who noted that a jury cleared the county of any wrongdoing in
the first trial.

A complex legal problem with evidence in the first trial resulted in a
federal magistrate ordering a second trial that would focus on two
issues- alleged negligence and civil rights violations by the county,
Bloom said.

Baker's lawsuit, going into the second trial, hinged on the question
of whether Lane County's mental health system was set up to monitor
and respond to ill effects that might be caused by psychiatric drugs
administered to people under the county's care, Bloom said.

"It was the drug and the lack of response that led to Ricky's death,"
Bloom claimed.

But the lawsuit faced an uphill fight, he said.

The first claim, and most difficult to prove, would have been the
alleged civil rights violation. If proven, the county could have been
ordered to pay a large sum as a settlement, Bloom said.

If the first claim were unsuccessful, the remaining issue would be
negligence. Even if county officials were found to be negligent, their
liability would have been limited to 172,000 under laws that cap
liability in such cases, he said.

Given medical expenses incurred by Herron's estate, the $65,000
settlement left more for Baker than she would have received under a
favorable negligence ruling by a jury, Bloom said. Any jury award
would have to be used to repay Medicaid for Herron's hospital care,
while an out-of-court settlement would not, Bloom said.

Given the long odds, expense and trauma of another trial, Baker agreed
to the settlement, Bloom said.

"It gives me no pleasure," Baker said in a telephone interview. "Ricky
was not a man. Ricky was a child. Ricky was a good child. I don't
think Ricky had ever been in a fight all his life.

"He needed friends. People noticed the weakness in Ricky, and the bad
people used him. Ricky was very lonely. Ricky's was a very sad, sad
life." 
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