Boston v. Lafayette County, Miss.
| Decision Date | 30 July 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. WC87-151-B-D.,WC87-151-B-D. |
| Citation | 743 F. Supp. 462 |
| Parties | Louise BOSTON, Administratrix of the Estate of Mae Evelyn Boston, Deceased, Plaintiff, v. LAFAYETTE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Ellis Turnage, Cleveland, Miss., for plaintiff.
R. Lloyd Arnold, Jackson, Jay Gore, III, Grenada, H. Scot Spragins, Oxford, for defendants.
This case arises out of an unfortunate chain of events which resulted in the death of Mae Evelyn Boston ("Boston") during her detention in the Lafayette County Jail on July 12, 1987, after her sister signed an affidavit that Boston was mentally deranged and needed confinement for the protection of herself and others. The plaintiff, administratrix of the deceased's estate, alleges causes of action against Lafayette County, Mississippi under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Mississippi's wrongful death statute. She seeks both damages and declaratory relief.
All parties in this cause have filed motions for summary judgment. Presently before the court are the cross motions of the plaintiff and defendant Lafayette County. Having thoroughly reviewed the pleadings, memoranda and exhibits, the court will now rule on the two motions pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Because the court will deny the plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment in its entirety, the evidence submitted is reviewed in a light most favorable to the plaintiff.
Prior to her detainment in the Lafayette County Jail, Boston suffered from both psychological and physical medical problems. A diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, she underwent therapy and received psychotropic medication for chronic schizophrenia a number of years prior to her death. She also suffered from obesity. In late 1986, she became pregnant and developed gestational diabetes, which her physician controlled through insulin. She was also taken off psychotropic medication for the course of her pregnancy. Boston's pregnancy continued without further complication and she gave birth to a child by caesarian section at the Oxford-Lafayette Medical Center on June 28, 1987. She was hospitalized for five days following her surgery. On July 8, ten days after giving birth, Boston reported to the Oxford-Lafayette Medical Center Emergency Room and complained of abdominal pain. The examining physician diagnosed her condition as endometritis, an infection inside the uterus, prescribed a two day supply of antibiotics, and instructed Boston to return to the center the following day.
That same day, Boston's psychological condition began to deteriorate. Her sister called the Region II Mental Health Center and informed officials that Boston was agitated, unable to sleep and possibly hallucinating. An appointment was scheduled for the thirteenth, and psychotropic medication was prescribed to sustain her until her appointment.
On July 9, Boston returned to the medical center as requested by her doctor. However, the doctor was unavailable, so only her blood pressure and temperature were taken. These readings appeared normal.
Despite prescribed psychotropic medication, Boston suffered a severe relapse of her paranoid schizophrenia on the night of July 9. Late that evening she became very boisterous and argumentative, and remained upset throughout the night. Early the next morning she stepped out of her room and requested insulin, telling one of her sisters that she was having a "sugar attack." Her sister complied with the request and filled a syringe with approximately 30cc of insulin. Boston then injected the insulin and repeatedly stabbed herself with the empty syringe until it was taken away. Shortly thereafter, Boston emerged from her room and announced to the family that her baby had fallen out of bed and died. The infant was discovered alive and unharmed, but Boston then attempted to choke the baby, claiming she was "fixing to have a baby."
Due to Boston's highly aberrant behavior, her family sought her commitment to a mental health facility pending a psychiatric and physical evaluation. One of Boston's sisters went to the chancery clerk's office, where she filled out an affidavit and application for commitment. As grounds for the application, the sister wrote: "Evelyn takes all of her clothes off, taking shots of insulin for sugar, choking a ten day old baby."
Bill Plunk, the Chancery Clerk, relayed the information on the affidavit by telephone to Mel Davis, whom the Chancery Judge had previously appointed as Special Master over the proceedings. Neither county official asked about nor was told that Boston had recently given birth and suffered from diabetes.1
Special Master Davis instructed Plunk to issue a writ to take custody of Boston, based upon the information Plunk supplied. The writ commanded the Lafayette County Sheriff to place Boston in the Lafayette County Jail until further orders of the court. During the same proceeding, Davis appointed an attorney to represent Boston in the event a future commitment hearing was deemed necessary, and issued an order for a psychological and physical examination to be performed on Boston within twenty-four hours.
Two city police officers, Pettis and Webb, complied with the custody order and transported Boston to the jail at approximately 9:40 that morning. When she arrived at the jail she was making grunting sounds and pushing down on her abdomen.2 As she was being accompanied into the jail, she appeared physically ill to one of the officers; 3 However, Ricky Miller, the jailor who received Boston into custody, also observed her at this time and stated that she "just had a wild-eyed look about her, a sort of dazed look."
Miller and the officers took Boston inside the jail and placed her alone inside a six-man cell. Although written policy required that Miller fill out a medical sheet by conducting a visual inspection of the detainee and asking various specific questions regarding the detainee's physical condition and health history, Miller did not fill out any part of the form or ask any questions of Boston. Similarly, he did not attempt to contact Boston's family or physician in order to answer the questions on the screening form or otherwise assess Boston's physical condition. Therefore, Miller and the other jailors, the sheriff, and officials within the chancery clerk's office remained unaware of Boston's medical history and recent caesarian section; however, before leaving the jail, Officer Webb told Miller that Boston had recently taken two injections of insulin, he did not know how much, and that she needed to be watched. Miller acknowledged hearing this information.
During the course of the weekend, Boston repeatedly demanded her medicine, which each jailor on duty administered according to directions.4 She often requested her medicine in a loud and agitated manner, even when it was not yet due, but never affirmatively stated that she was in pain, or that she wanted the medicine to alleviate pain. No trained medical personnel examined Boston between the time of her detainment and the time of her death, and no one from her family informed the jailors or any county officials about her recent caesarian section.
The jailors, none of whom had medical training or instruction in first-aid, examined Boston approximately every half hour throughout her detention to determine how she was performing both physically and mentally. She slept and sat on her cot throughout the weekend, often not responding to jailors' inquiries.
On Sunday morning, July 12, 1987, Miller checked on Boston at 11:15 a.m. At that time she appeared to be asleep and snoring. Boston apparently died, unnoticed by Miller, between this check at 11:15 a.m. and his next visit approximately thirty minutes later. When Miller next observed her he noticed she was quiet and, curiosity aroused, attempted to wake her. When he was unable to awaken Boston, he summoned an ambulance and called the Sheriff and informed him that he was having trouble "waking" Boston. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the Oxford-Lafayette County Emergency Room.
The autopsy report reveals that Boston died from heart failure caused by blood clots. The pathologist who conducted the autopsy, Dr. Brooks Allison, examined both the legs and the pelvic area in an effort to discover the source of the clots, but could not do so. He maintains the clots formed within several minutes to hours, certainly within twenty-four hours, prior to her death. Dr. Allison and several other doctors also assert that Boston received reasonable medical care during her detainment in the Lafayette County Jail.
In contrast, Dr. Rodrigo Galvez, a pathologist and psychiatrist, who did not personally examine the deceased, contends the clots took "more than twenty-four hours to form and in all probability ... were formed for several days prior to her death." He bases this opinion on the small size and large number of clots noted in the autopsy report. Additionally, he states that clots of this size usually originate in the pelvic area. Dr. Galvez and a physician, Dr. Pieroni, are of the opinion that Boston did not receive reasonable medical care during her detainment.
The sheriff and jailors at the Lafayette County Jail routinely detain mentally ill persons pursuant to writs to take custody issued by the state chancery court. Between 1984 and 1988, well over one hundred persons were detained in the Lafayette County jail while awaiting involuntary commitment hearings. Each detainee remained in the jail on the average of three to ten days.5
Pursuant to written policy, the jail routinely relies on a medical screening form to determine the physical condition of each mentally ill detainee. The form is...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hood v. Itawamba County, Miss.
...810 F.2d 514, 516 (5th Cir. 1987); Grandstaff v. City of Borger, Texas, 767 F.2d 161, 169 (5th Cir.1985); Boston v. Lafayette County, Mississippi, 743 F.Supp. 462, 467 (N.D.Miss.1990). I. Failure to The failure to provide pre-trial detainees with adequate protection from their known suicida......
-
Bass v. Parkwood Hosp.
...claims against the special master, who performed duties functionally equivalent to those of a judge. See Boston v. Lafayette County, Mississippi, 743 F.Supp. 462, 471 (N.D.Miss.1990); cf. Hulsey v. Owens, 63 F.3d 354 (5th Cir.1995) (holding, under section 1983, that absolute immunity for ju......
-
Boston v. Lafayette County, Miss.
...it reviews the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and incorporates the facts recited in its opinion of July 30, 1990. 743 F.Supp. 462. The court restates or adds facts in this opinion only as necessary to dispose of the pending I. FACTS Mae Evelyn Boston ("Boston") died in h......
-
Sacal-Micha v. Longoria
..."other safe conditions of confinement " (emphasis in original), and that they cannot do so. (Id. (quoting Bos. v. Lafayette Cty., Miss. , 743 F. Supp. 462, 469 (N.D. Miss. 1990) )) He contends that he will be exposed to COVID-19 via the medical staff or other detainees. (Supp. Reply, Doc. 1......