A Boonsboro woman who claims she was forced to give birth in the Washington County Detention Center last summer with no medical assistance is suing Washington County government, the sheriff and a Pennsylvania company that provides medical care to inmates.
Sheriff Doug Mullendore and PrimeCare Medical Inc., of Harrisburg, Pa., which is contracted to provide medical services to inmates, are two of 10 defendants in the 23-page suit, filed Tuesday in Maryland’s northern region of U.S. District Court by plaintiff Jazmin Valentine of Maggies Court.
Danielle Weaver, spokeswoman for Washington County government, said Tuesday that county officials had no comment.
Mullendore and PrimeCare Medical could not be reached for comment.
Also listed as defendants are nurses B. Monahan, J. Dixon, Sarah Rock and Fnu Groft. Law enforcement defendants include: Sgt. E. Rockwell and deputies R. Sullivan and E. Myers.
The suit is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. Valentine, who also lists her child as a plaintiff, is demanding a jury trial.
COMPLAINT-and-Demand-for-Jury-Trial-1.22-cv-02446-JMC_9-27-2022-2.pdf
How did it happen ?
On July 2, Valentine was booked and sent to the jail for a probation violation from Virginia, Andrew D. Freeman of Brown, Goldstein & Levy law firm wrote in the suit. The firm is based in Baltimore.
Jail staff were aware that Valentine was more than eight months pregnant and she was placed in a cell close to a nurse’s station because PrimeCare Medical staff wanted to monitor her pregnancy, according to the suit.
The next day, Valentine went into labor and didn’t know what to expect since it was her first child, the suit said.
Valentine felt contractions and told jail authorities, but no action was taken, according to the lawsuit.
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At 7 p.m., Valentine told a nurse and a deputy she was having contractions and would not be able to easily come to her cell door for her medication. The suit alleges a nurse told Valentine that she was not in labor and would not be going to the hospital.
“For over six hours Ms. Valentine was left alone, screaming for help and that because she was in labor she needed urgent, immediate medical attention,” the suit states.
The suit claims jail staff and nurses laughed at her and told her she was “playing games trying to get out of her cell.” One nurse said Valentine’s condition was the result of drug withdrawl.
Valentine gave birth shortly after midnight and held her baby in her hands with its umbilical cord still intact, the suit said. None of the PrimeCare Medical defendants made any preparation to provide medical care after a birth and Valentine had to undergo a dangerous delivery with no medical equipment or personnel that she would have had in a hospital, the suit said.
What happened at the hospital ?
Paramedics didn’t arrive at the jail until about a 30 minutes after the birth. Valentine was taken to the hospital, where staff determined the baby had an infection due to being born in the cell, the suit said. The filing didn’t state which hospital.
The suit says Valentine’s treatment at the jail resulted in violation of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, and violation of the 8th Amendment, which deals with citizens rights.
“What should have been one of the happiest days of her life was instead a day terror, pain and humiliation that continues to cause her ongoing emotional trauma,” the suit said.
