(CN) - The nation's largest provider of correctional medical care ignored a North Carolina inmate's agonized pleas for help as he suffered excruciating pain and vomited blood for 10 days, causing a heart attack that left him in a permanent vegetative state, his family says in a federal lawsuit.
Glenda and Calvin Simmons, the parents of Bryan O'Neil Simmons charge in a lawsuit filed in the Federal Court in Greensboro, N.C., that Corizon Health Inc., a firm based in Brentwood, Tenn., and no stranger to lawsuits accusing it of providing inadequate care to prisoners, violated both national and state standards of care established for inmates.
And they assert these lapses were aided and abetted by co-defendants, Guilford County, N.C., its Sheriff, B.J. Barnes, and the Guilford County Sheriff's Department.
Bryan Simmons, 36, a newlywed with no history of health problems, was serving 90 days at the Guilford County Jail for a parole violation when he became ill shortly before Thanksgiving Day 2012.
In a phone call to home that day, Simmons told his parent that he was unable to go to the bathroom for several days and that he had been throwing up blood. Two days later, Simmons was found on the floor of his cell, apparently unconscious, the Simmons say.
Despite the presence of blood on his clothing and floor, Simmons "was not examined by a physician and his request to be seen at a hospital was denied by the Corizon staff," his parents say.
Nurses on duty at the jail did draw Simmons' blood, but the lab work was not reviewed until after he suffered his heart attack.
Simmons' parents say that on Dec. 1, 2012, they received a call from a cellmate that told them their son had collapsed on the floor, was unable to move and had urinated on himself.
The Simmons say they immediately drove to the jail but their request to see their son was denied. Despite assurances that their son was fine, the Simmons say they pleaded for him to be taken to the hospital, explaining that he must be seriously ill because he was going to be released in two days.
In the meantime, unbeknownst to his parents, Simmons was moved from a general cell to a medical cell where he was placed on video surveillance because it was believed he was "Suicidal."
According to the lawsuit, this action was taken "[a]round 4:55 P.M. on December 1, the jailers and nurse reported that Bryan had a bloody rag in his mouth and wanted to kill himself due to the pain he was experiencing."
The videotape from the jail purportedly shows Simmons unable to walk, begging for help and writing "HELP" in the air with his finger. The complaint says nurses told Simmons he couldn't go to the hospital until he saw a doctor. However, no physician was scheduled to visit until after Simmons was released from the jail.
Fred DeVore, attorney for Simmons' family, said Corizon was contracted to provide emergency care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
"It's just a practical matter that if there is an emergency, you go to the hospital," DeVore said. "Just because a doctor isn't on call doesn't mean you don't fulfill your obligations."
Corizon's attorney did not return calls to comment on the case.
