A legal case claims that a prisoner who was HIV-positive passed away due to being refused medication at a jail in Northern California.
The family of a man who passed away while in a Northern California jail has filed a lawsuit claiming that he acquired a preventable viral infection due to the lack of proper HIV medication for a period of two months.
According to the court documents, Nicholas Overfield disclosed his HIV-positive status and need for antiretroviral medication to police officers when he was arrested in February 2022 for failing to appear in court.
According to the lawsuit, Lesley Overfield, the mother of the plaintiff, provided the arresting officers with her son’s prescribed medication, but it was not given to him.
According to the lawsuit, his medical records indicate that he was not given the HIV medication prescribed to him during the entire two months of his detention.
According to court documents, Overfield’s health declined quickly as his HIV progressed to AIDS. He was eventually released from prison and admitted to a hospital, where he passed away on June 21, 2022 while under hospice care.
A legal complaint was submitted on January 16 to the U.S. District Court against El Dorado County and the contracted healthcare provider for the jail, Wellpath Community Care. The plaintiff is requesting a trial by jury and compensation for damages without specifying an amount.
The county and Wellpath representatives did not respond to email inquiries about the accusations on Monday.
According to the legal claim, Lesley Overfield went to see her son on April 22, 2022 and found him in a severely weakened state where he could not even communicate with her. She insisted that the prison give Nick proper medical attention, and he was promptly taken to a hospital later that same day.
The lawsuit states that the defendants were either unaware or deliberately disregarding the seriousness of Nick’s overall health and medical condition until they were compelled to acknowledge them by his mother.
According to court documents, Overfield’s death was attributed to encephalitis and it was noted that he had contracted this virus two months before his death while in custody.