$400,000 Jury Verdict for Medical Neglect Resulting in Amputation of Alabama Prisoner’s Toes
On May 20, 2024, a federal jury in Alabama returned a verdict against a doctor employed by Wexford Health Sources, Inc., the private medical provider contracted by the state Department of Corrections (DOC). It was part of a civil rights action brought by a prisoner who suffered medical neglect that eventually led to the amputation of his toes.
When Canyon Duff Moye arrived at Kilby Correctional Facility in August 2019, he had an injury to his left foot. But the foot’s condition was “stable, with no open sores or need for medical treatment,” as recalled in the complaint he later filed. Less than a week later, however, he had developed blisters due to the low-quality shoes he was issued.
Moye received a “no-work” slip from the medical department, but prison officials required him to continue working anyway. He was transferred to Fountain Correctional Facility a few months later, and the blisters on his foot worsened and developed into open sores. By late 2019, “there was a stench from the wounds on [his] foot” and “holes in the pad of [his] foot below the big toe and below the middle toe area,” all of which was documented in a photo taken by another prisoner.
Despite this serious injury, and even though it became infected, he was not referred to a wound care specialist. Instead, Wexford staff gave him only ointment. His requests for treatment went ignored, and by the time he finally saw a general surgeon in January 2020, all the toes on his left foot had to be amputated.
Following that surgical procedure, Moye was returned to Fountain and his injury again worsened, causing a “significant hole” to develop in his left foot. Yet medical staff again failed to provide adequate care, including “not properly packing the wounds, not properly wrapping the wound, and not allowing necessary treatment modalities.” As a result, his injury “continu[ed] to
Fester” for another year until he was released from prison.
Moye filed suit in federal court for the Southern District of Alabama in 2022, raising claims of unconstitutional deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs as well as violations of state law related to the poor conditions of his confinement. He named Wexford, its medical director at Fountain, Dr. Manuel Pouparina, along with Warden Mary Cooks and Warden Reosha Butler as Defendants.
The district court granted summary judgment to Wexford and both wardens on March 5, 2024, granting partial summary judgment to Dr. Pouparina regarding the conditions-of-confinement claim. The case proceeded to trial in May 2024, where the doctor accused his former patient of failing to follow after-care instructions. Two experts testified that he provided “excellent care” and suggested that other factors caused Moye’s infection to spiral out of control.
The jury wasn’t buying that, however, and returned a verdict against Dr. Pouparina on the medical neglect claim. Moye was awarded $400,000 in compensatory damages for his injury. He was represented by attorneys Edward P. Rowan and Tiffany Ray with Taylor Martino, PC in Mobile. See: Moye v. Butler, USDC (S.D. Ala.), Case No. 1:22-cv-00026.
The DOC did not renew its contract with Wexford when it expired in July 2022, opting to hire YesCare, as PLN reported; the new provider is a Frankenstein cobbled together from profitable pieces of what used to be Corizon Health, whose money-losing parts were shunted into another entity called Tehum Care Services, which has filed for bankruptcy. [See: PLN, Oct. 2022, p.22; and Nov. 2024, p.29.]
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