CHARLESTON – A woman’s estate blames her death on improper care while being held in the Southwestern Regional Jail.
Tonia LaDuke, as administratrix of the estate of Brittany Tomblin, filed her complaint September 1 in Kanawha Circuit Court against PrimeCare Medical of West Virginia and the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. LaDuke was Tomblin’s mother.
“The treatment of our clients daughter Brittany Tomblin was outrageous, barbaric, inhumane, and in gross contravention of the manner in which mental health patients are medically, legally, and ethically required to be handled,” attorney L. Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “In the face of the obvious need to transfer to a higher care facility, Brittany’s mental health issues were buried, she was pepper sprayed, strapped to a chair, never checked on, her window was covered with a blanket, and she was found dead and cold to the touch having been completely ignored for 11 hours.
diTrapano
"PrimeCare and the jail need to answer for this senseless death.”
According to the complaint, Tomblin was incarcerated May 1, 2020, at Southwestern Regional Jail in Logan County. It says she was in the middle of a severe mental health crisis and had a history severe psychosis, which her medical records showed.
It included drug-induced psychosis, which the complaint says is a form of delirium. The staff also had access to medical records related to Tomblin’s prior incarcerations which included a history of poly-substance abuse and severe mental health issues.
Notes from her intake evaluation say Tomblin was “very combative” and immediately cleared for placement in a medical cell because of her “combative behavior.” It also says she wouldn’t comply with orders she was being given.
The estate says Tomblin should have been transferred to a local emergency room for treatment. Instead, she was confined to a medical cell and sprayed with Oleoresin Capsaicin before being strapped to a restraint chair for more 90 minutes. It says she wasn’t checked every 15 minutes as she was supposed to be in the restraint chair.
The next time she was checked on by a nurse, Tomblin was naked, screaming and jumping at her cell door. The estate says Tomblin again should have been sent to a facility to provide higher care than could be provided there.
“Instead, she was kept in a holding cell for ‘medical observation’ until she was seen by … a licensed psychologist employed by PrimeCare,” the complaint states. The psychologist had seen Tomblin before numerous times and had recommended she see a psychiatrist for bipolar disorder and “psychotic rage.”
The psychologist’s professional assessment said Tomblin was “disheveled, bizarre, delusional, manic with a thought process that was loose and typified by a flight of ideas.”
“Ms. Tomblin’s speech was noted to be pressured, she was angry, and her thought process was further noted to be ‘severely impaired’ both in terms of insight and judgment,” the complaint states. The psychologist noted “the treatment plan for Ms. Tomblin was to remain in psychiatric observation ‘due to unorganized thinking, irrational thought, inability to maintain safety’ and further, that Ms. Tomblin should be monitored ‘daily.’ …
“Tomblin was exhibiting clear signs that she was in the midst of a serious mental health crisis, and these signs clearly pointed, individually and collectively, to an emergency medical condition that should have triggered urgent and immediate psychiatric and medical evaluation and treatment.”
The complaint claims the medical personnel’s lack of response an “inexplicable and inexcusable act of negligence and cruelty.”
It says there is no indication medical or jail staff checked on Tomblin for 11 hours when she was alone in her cell after having been released from the restraint chair.
“Tomblin was observed throughout the early morning of May 2, 2020, to be agitated, self-injurious, banging head, ripping out her hair, exposing herself, acting bizarre,” the complaint states. “At some point on May 2, 2020, WVDCR correctional officers covered her cell window.”
Tomblin was found dead in her cell at 9:05 a.m. on May 2, 2020. When she was found, she was unresponsive, cold to touch and without a pulse. Her mouth was so rigid that medical staff couldn’t attempt mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and her body had sustained several blunt force injuries.
LaDuke accuses PrimeCare of medical negligence and vicarious liability. She accuses the WVDCR of malicious conduct.
She seeks damages for Tomblin’s pain and suffering before her death, sorrow and emotional suffering of Tomblin’s beneficiaries, loss of financial support for Tomblin’s children and other dependents, loss of emotional support to Tomblin’s beneficiaries. LaDuke also seeks compensatory damages for pain and suffering, medical expenses and other losses as well as punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
LaDuke is being represented by diTrapano and Benjamin Adams of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and William C. Forbes and W. Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 21-C-769