Nearly six years after young man's death in prison, California county agrees to pay $5 million just before trial – The Mercury News

San Diego County will pay nearly $5 million to the mother of a young man who died in a San Diego prison nearly six years ago.

Michael Wilson was already suffering from heart failure when he was admitted to the downtown Central Jail on February 5, 2019, but he never received the prescription medication he relied on to stay alive. He died nine days later at the age of 32.

“Without medication, his lungs would fill with fluid, causing a medical emergency,” his mother’s lawsuit states.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Phyllis Jackson a year after Wilson's death. The agreement came on October 23, less than three weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin.

Eugene Iredale, one of the lawyers who represented Wilson's mother, said the case dragged on much longer than it should have.

“We were prepared to solve the case much sooner if we had been able to do so,” Iredale said. “If we had done this earlier, the amount would have been lower.”

The settlement comes four months after the county agreed to pay $15 million to the family of Elisa Serna, who also died in a San Diego prison in 2019. Her family's lawsuit was also close to trial when the county agreed to a settlement.

While it is not unusual for a defendant to take extra time to prepare a defense, Iredale said the district attorney is “making a deliberate attempt to simply exhaust the emotional resources of the family and the legal and financial resources of the attorneys in order to to wear them down.” ”

“Their policy is to delay, defer, deny and postpone the disclosure of critical information for as long as possible,” he said.

A district spokesman declined to comment.

Wilson was one of 16 people who died in a San Diego County jail in 2019 and among 185 people who died between 2006 and 2020, making the county's jail system one of the deadliest in California.

“Serious medical problems”

Wilson was a toddler when he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure. The former causes the heart muscle to thicken and have difficulty pumping blood. Heart failure can cause fluid to build up in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

With the help of a pacemaker and several medications, Wilson was able to live a normal life, his mother said.

“This was a life-sustaining medication for him,” she told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Wilson was arrested on February 5, 2019 for a probation violation. The judge sentenced him to a “flash” sentence, meaning he would be immediately sent to prison for a short stay – in his case, two weeks.

The judge added to the record: “The court directs the medical staff to be aware that this defendant has some serious medical problems.”

Records show that during booking, Wilson told the intake nurse that he was suffering from heart failure, had a pacemaker and was taking several medications daily, including Lasix to prevent fluid buildup and metoprolol to keep his heart rate low.

The nurse noted this in the prison's online records system and also marked the judge's order. But for days the order was ignored by other medical staff at the prison.

On February 7, Wilson requested a doctor's visit and discovered that he had not received any of his medication.

On Feb. 8, Wilson filed another claim, and his mother called and told a nurse that her son had a serious heart condition and needed to be seen by a doctor.

On Feb. 9, he filed a third claim, writing that he had developed a cough “that won’t go away.”

He received medical attention only after his mother called the prison on the morning of February 11 and requested that her son be taken to a hospital.

The nurse who examined Wilson noticed that he had difficulty breathing, was constantly coughing and had dangerously low blood oxygen levels. He also had an elevated heart rate, indicating possible heart problems.

Wilson told her that he couldn't breathe while lying down, a sign of heart failure.

She requested medical attention and described Wilson's condition as an “emergency.”

That doctor's visit occurred “in the hallway, not on an exam table,” and without the doctor reviewing Wilson's medical records, according to court documents.

The doctor gave Wilson a single dose of Lasix and some Robitussin for his cough. He later noted in Wilson's medical record that his cough had disappeared, that his breathing was normal and that Wilson said he did not need to go to the hospital.

That evening, according to prison medical records, Wilson's sister called a nurse to tell her that her brother was in medical distress and was short of breath. She said the Lasix Wilson had previously given had little help.

A nurse who saw Wilson after his sister's call found his airway to be “inefficient” and initiated asthma treatment, even though Wilson told her he was suffering from heart failure. The nurse noted in his medical record that he “reported relief” after nebulizer treatment.

The county's defense in the lawsuit hinged on whether Wilson was open about the symptoms with the medical staff who examined him.

A doctor, at least two nurses and a deputy reported that Wilson said he was doing well or was starting to feel better. But his mother, a retired school nurse, and his sister say he had trouble breathing and complained of chest pains during several phone calls.

“I'm not an advanced nurse, but because of my nursing and medical background, I could hear Michael gasping for air on the phone. I could hear his struggle,” Jackson said.

“Basic nursing knowledge would enable one to recognize that a person is in distress even if one has no medical experience,” she added.

Men in his jail cell told Sheriff's Office investigators that Wilson was “wheezing” and “coughing the whole time.” One said he could “barely speak.” Another said he repeatedly called a nurse to bring Wilson an asthma inhaler.

On the evening of Feb. 13, Wilson “gasped for air,” one man recalled.

On the morning of February 14, 2019, nine days after his arrest, Wilson fell from his top bunk and collapsed in his cell. He later died at UCSD Medical Center. An autopsy report revealed that his lungs had doubled in size due to the fluid.

The judge presiding over the case was not swayed by the county's argument that Wilson did not appear to be sick enough to require closer monitoring.

Medical staff at the prison knew he had gone for days without medication and should have recognized his nagging cough and shortness of breath as signs of heart failure, Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro wrote in an order denying the county's motion for summary judgment rejected.

“Repeated failure to administer all prescribed heart medications to such a patient,” particularly a patient known to be suffering from severe heart problems, “could well be a matter of life and death,” Montenegro wrote.

“Significant improvements”