$3 Million Settlement in Florida County Detainee’s Withdrawal Symptom Death
$3 Million Settlement in Florida County Detainee’s Withdrawal Symptom Death
Orange County, Florida, paid $3 Million to settle a lawsuit that alleged a pre-trail detainee died from drug withdrawal symptoms caused by the failure to provide her required methadone treatment.
Susan J. Bennett, 42, was arrested on March 5, 1997, on a warrant for obtaining medication with a fraudulent prescription. When she was booked into the Orange County Jail, she was undergoing psychiatric treatment and was on a methadone program for drug dependency.
The next day, her attorney obtained an order to release her on her own recognizance and place her on home confinement due to her medical and psychological condition. She was not, however, released. Her husband contended he was told that she would not be released “anytime soon” because there were insufficient ankle bracelets to monitor her.
The husband took action to have Bennett’s medications brought to the jail, but she was never given them. It was contended that she quit eating the day after her arrest, she became unresponsive, could not walk and she began to suffer violent episodes of vomiting and other symptoms of drug withdrawal.
A jail medical doctor ordered a “psych consult” on March 10, after finding Bennett unresponsive, urinating on herself, and not eating for three days. It was alleged she was shackled, handcuffed, and battered during her transfer in the jail system. She was also forced onto a mattress and dragged into a shower.
Bennett died on March 16 or 17 of cardiac arrhythmia. Evidence shows that she had lacerations, contusions, and bruising on her wrists and ankles and on and around her mouth, indicating she was convulsing at or near her time of death. The body was also smeared with feces.
The jail settled the suit five weeks after it was filed. See: Muszynski v. Orange County, U.S.D.C. (M.D. Fla.), Case no. 6:98-cv-00328.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
Related legal case
Muszynski v. Orange County
| Year | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Cite | U.S.D.C. (M.D. Fla.), Case no. 6:98-cv-00328 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |
| Damages | 3,000,000 |