Court Finds Oregon Healthcare Provider Destroyed Evidence After Wrongful Death In Jail

Wellpath- a healthcare provider operating in prisons and jails nationwide, has come under the spotlight for deaths in the facilities they serve and several lawsuits have been launched.

On Monday, the ruling of a federal judge in one of the lawsuits who ruled that wrongfully deleted emails by Wellpath represent the intentional destruction of evidence to prevent the use of it at trial was signed off.

Court Ruling In Case of Woman Who Died At Josephine County Jail

The family of Janelle Marie Butterfield, 34 who died in 2018 at the Josephine County Jail in southern Oregon launched a lawsuit against Wellpath and Josephine County, claiming that the defendants were negligent and violated Butterfield’s constitutional rights.

Butterfield- who had a history of mental illness before being admitted to jail, had been in and out of the Josephine County Jail in the years before her death.

Butterfield’s family alerted the jail she had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia during one of her stays. She was later arrested and booked into the county jail on July 27, 2018, after failing to appear on misdemeanor charges.

Her family states in the lawsuit that 16 days into custody, her antipsychotic medication was discontinued without explanation. 40 days after her arrest, she died alone in a cell by suicide and had not been seen by any healthcare practitioners.

Earlier this year, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke found that Wellpath intentionally destroyed evidence and delayed Butterfield’s case. His ruling was officially signed off by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane earlier this week.

The emails surrounding Butterfield’s death were destroyed through Wellpath’s implementation of a company-wide policy known as “the purge.”

Butterfield’s mother agreed in principle to resolve her claims against Wellpath in August.

Lawsuits Against Wellpath For Wrongful Deaths While In Custody

In terms of the U.S. Constitution, correctional facilities must provide adequate healthcare. Aside from the Butterfield lawsuit, there have been similar allegations in other cases that suggest the healthcare provided in prisons and jails may not be sufficient.

Butterfield’s case is the third time a federal judge has ruled that Wellpath wrongfully deleted emails connected to in-custody deaths.

Marc Moreno, 18, died on March 11, 2016, after eight days in the Benton County Jail.  After losing 38 pounds in custody and under the care of Correct Care Solutions- which changed its name to Wellpath two years later,

Moreno died from cardiac arrhythmia and dehydration. His parents filed a lawsuit on October 30, 2018.

Following requests for discovery to Wellpath for over a year, Wellpath acknowledged the e-mail accounts of all former employees, including almost all of the employees who worked at the Benton County Jail during the time relevant to the lawsuit had been purged. All emails older than one year had also been deleted from the accounts of current employees.

In her order on June 1, 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson wrote that it was not a case where Wellpath negligently forgot to stop an automatic document destruction system already in place, but rather a case in which the company decided in the middle of litigation over a teenagers death to begin a new document destruction policy.

The family settled the lawsuit with Wellpath settled with the family for $4.5 million and the company ceased its policy of deleting emails.

Rocky Stewart, 42, was found dead in his cell On December 3, 2017, hours after he was booked into the Coos County Jail complaining of nausea and anxiety.

The Wellpath nurse on duty failed to do a required medical screening. His autopsy report revealed that Stewart died from severe atherosclerotic coronary artery disease which required hospitalization.

Stewart’s family sent a request to Wellpath in March 2018 for the company to preserve documents before filing a lawsuit but the records were never turned over. After years of delays, U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken ordered Wellpath to provide the documentation at a July 29, 2022 hearing.

This was followed by a ruling in June 2023 that the company’s conduct was intentional and deceptive.

The court rulings have cost Wellpath millions of dollars and the latest order comes while Wellpath is on a weak financial footing. Financial experts say Wellpath may be forced to restructure.