CHARLESTON – The mother of an inmate who committed suicide says jail and medical personnel failed to properly take care of his mental health issues.
Julia Bettis, administratrix of the estate of Levi C. Estep, filed her complaint May 26 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Wexford Health Sources Inc., PrimeCare Medical of West Virginia Inc., West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, PSIMED Corrections LLC, Braxton County Memorial Hospital Inc. and Dr. Brent Glover.
“This is yet another glaring example of how our regional jail system and their medical providers are deliberately indifferent to a mental health crisis for inmate patients,” attorney L. Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “This is the eighth jail suicide case we have filed in the last two years, and nothing ever changes for the better because the medical providers choose profit over safety.
“It is a disturbing circumstance that needs attention from the state.”
According to the complaint, Estep was incarcerated at Central Regional Jail in Braxton County on October 13, 2021, on a first-degree murder charge after he killed his childhood friend with a shotgun. During his intake evaluation, Estep’s responses revealed that he believed he suffered from schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations. He also said he previously had sought psychiatric care on numerous occasions without success.
From his intake until June 25, 2022, Estep displayed “wildly erratic and self-injurious behavior and mood swings and expressed bizarre ideology that was highly indicative of severe mental illness,” according to the complaint.
It also says Estep made statements indicating he was suicidal and at high risk of self-harm. Those included admitting he shot his friend because “disembodied voices told him that the victim had molested Mr. Estep’s younger brother.”
Estep was placed on suicide watch at intake and remained there until January 24, 2022. He was placed back on suicide watch on April 20, 2022, after he was found with multiple lacerations on both wrists, including a deep six-inch vertical laceration on his left wrist. He remained on suicide watch until May 4, 2022. HE was placed back on suicide watch from May 7, 2022, to May 14, 2022.
On June 4, 2022, jail staff found Estep unconscious in his cell with a bed sheet tied around his neck. EMS transported him to Braxton County Memorial Hospital, where he was treated by Glover. In the triage notes, it says Estep said he placed the bed sheet around his neck for erotic reasons, but it became too tight and he couldn’t get it off. But he also told the nurse he felt suicidal after the bed sheet was applied.
Despite expressing suicidal thoughts to the nurse, the complaint says Glover didn’t ask about Estep’s psychiatric state or history. He also didn’t consult with a psychiatrist. Glover ordered a blood panel and CT scans of Estep’s brain and cervical spine before discharging him and sending him back to the jail the same day.
Estep was placed back on suicide watch until June 24, 2022. On June 25, 2022, staff again found him unconscious in his cell with a bed sheet tied around his neck. He was transported to Braxton County Memorial Hospital again before being flown to Charleston Area Medical Center’s General Hospital. He died from his injuries June 26, 2022.
“Estep never received the ‘higher level of care’ for his severe mental illness that the defendants clearly recognized that he needed,” the complaint states.
Bettis accuses the medical defendants of medical negligence and all of the medical defendants except Glover of negligent training and supervision. She accuses the WVDCR of negligence, deliberate indifference in violation of clearly established laws and negligent training.
She seeks compensatory damages for Estep’s pain and suffering before his death, the sorrow and emotional suffering of his wrongful death beneficiaries, the loss of emotional support for his wrongful death beneficiaries, punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees, expenses and other relief.
Bettis is being represented by diTrapano and Charles F. Bellomy of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and by W. Jesse Forbes and Jennifer N. Taylor of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 23-C-462
