RICHMOND, Va., March 7 (UPI) -- The estate for a mentally ill U.S. military veteran alleges in two lawsuits jail workers and a doctor were responsible for his death at the Richmond (Va.) Jail.
The wrongful-death lawsuits, filed in Richmond Circuit Court, allege Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody Jr. and several of the jail's medical staff, as well as Dr. Gregory J. Pleasants -- a doctor who was responsible for providing medical care at the jail -- withheld appropriate treatment and failed to intervene when Anthony Ousley refused to eat in his cell, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Thursday.
Ousley was 41 when he died Sept. 10, 2010, at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, where he had been brought in terminal condition from the Richmond Jail, court documents indicate.
Ousley had been living in Memphis, where he was being treated at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital for depression and anxiety. He was jailed in Richmond on misdemeanor disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice charges Aug. 23, 2010.
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He had been at the jail for two weeks, and had not eaten for three days, when he was transferred to VCU. He spent long periods of time at the jail lying on his cell floor and was naked, with no mattress or running water, in his cell, the lawsuits indicate.
He was treated for acute kidney failure at VCU, where his right leg was amputated and he became comatose,
The lawsuits -- each of which seeks $10.4 million -- are the latest in a series of civil actions alleging improper medical care or inhumane conditions at the Richmond Jail, which the newspaper said is chronically overcrowded and has more than 80 people die while in custody since 1994.
