Gonzalez v. Cecil County, Maryland.

U.S. District Court

MEDICAL CARE

Gonzalez v. Cecil County, Maryland, 221 F.Supp.2d 611 (D.Md. 2002). The widow of a pretrial detainee who died while in custody filed a [section] 1983 action against a county, sheriff, and detention center medical personnel. The district court denied the defendants' motion to dismiss, in part, finding that fact issues remained as to whether the care provided to the detainee amounted to deliberate indifference. The detainee was admitted to a county detention center at approximately 5:00 p.m. Shortly after his admission he identified himself as a heroin user during a standard intake medical screening. He told three nurses employed by the detention center, upon his arrival, that he was likely to undergo acute heroin withdrawal symptoms. The only treatment provided to him at this time was to be placed on twice-daily doses of Clonidine, a blood pressure medication. The detainee allegedly became violently ill and progressed to acute pulmonary distress, disease and pneumonia during the night and during the next day. He complained to the nurses but was only given an over-the-counter stomach remedy, Kaopectate. Two days later he was found in his cell, unresponsive, and was pronounced dead twenty minutes later. His body was taken to a nearby hospital where an autopsy revealed he died from "pneumonia, complicating narcotics abuse." The district court held that the fact that the nurses were acting in conformity with the county's established protocol in treating the inmate did not entitle them to qualified immunity from liability under [section] 1983. (Cecil County Detention Center, Maryland)