Jury awards six figures to inmate
A former inmate of Taylorville Correctional Center last week won a $300,000 verdict against a prison doctor with a history of lawsuits alleging poor care that resulted in at least one previous six-figure payout.
Vincent Trimble, who is now incarcerated at Lincoln Correctional Center, says he suffered for more than a year in the Taylorville prison while Dr. Rosalina Robles-Gonzalez downplayed the severity of back problems that eventually required surgery. Trimble’s history of back troubles dated to the 1990s, and he had undergone back surgery prior to being sent to prison 15 years ago, according to court documents.
In his lawsuit, Trimble writes that Robles- Gonzalez ordered x-rays, then told him that while he had arthritis, there was nothing wrong with him and that his pain was normal for a 50-year-old man. She initially prescribed a muscle relaxant that didn’t help, Trimble says. She also provided Naproxen, Ibuprofen and an analgesic balm, according to court records. She refused to allow an examination by a different doctor, Trimble says. He also says that a report from a physician outside the prison who reviewed x-rays found sclerosis and a degenerative spinal condition but no evidence of arthritis.
After a year of worsening pain, Trimble says that he told Robles-Gonzalez that his family was concerned and wanted him to call with results from his latest medical appointment.
“I don’t care who you call, you can call Obama for help,” she yelled in response, according to Trimble’s lawsuit.
More than a year after first seeing Robles- Gonzalez for back pain in the summer of 2010, Trimble in the spring of 2012 was transferred to Jacksonville Correctional Center, where doctors stepped up treatment, sending him outside the prison for a second opinion. Still, he suffered, and by February 2013, he was in such pain that he was forced to use a wheelchair. An MRI showed spinal problems that included a herniated disc. Steroid injections didn’t help, and Trimble underwent surgery in the fall of 2014, which corrected the problems – in court last week, he stood and walked in no apparent pain. He sued Robles- Gonzalez in the spring of 2013, while still in a wheelchair.
Robles-Gonzalez did not testify and could not be located prior to trial, according to court records. She did not renew her medical license when it expired in 2014, according to records at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, that show two malpractice cases against her were settled in 2010 and 2011, one for $500, the other for $5,000. One of the settlements apparently involved William A. Hudson, a Taylorville inmate who sued Robles-Gonzalez in 2008, alleging that she had not properly treated his back pain and discontinued prescribed medication for his condition that he had received at a different prison before being transferred to Taylorville.
“Nothing’s wrong with your back,” Hudson, in court documents, says that Robles- Gonzalez told him. “Motrin is all you get. You shouldn’t have come to prison. … I know you have pain, but remember where you are.”
Like Trimble, Hudson said that Robles- Gonzalez told him that he had a mild case of arthritis and refused to send him to another doctor. Grievances, including one signed by Roger Walker, then director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, were denied, as treatment was provided in accordance with policies and procedures.
Last year, Wexford Health Sources, the private company that holds the state contract to provide medical care to inmates and employed Robles-Gonzalez, agreed to pay $800,000 to the family of Alfonso Franco, a Taylorville inmate who died after Robles- Gonzalez failed to diagnose colon cancer (“Six-figure settlement in prison lawsuit,” Sept. 17, 2015). It was an agonizing death, with Franco ending up incontinent and in diapers before he was finally sent to a hospital. Robles- Gonzalez could not be located for a deposition in that lawsuit and had reportedly moved to the Philippines.
Trimble, who lived in Mattoon before being sent to prison, pleaded guilty in 2001 to a murder-for-hire scheme involving his exwife – prosecutors say he offered $1,000 to a would-be killer who contacted police. He was sentenced to 20 years and is due for release next year. He showed no reaction last week when the jury awarded him $300,000. Pamela Hart, his court-appointed lawyer, declined comment, as did Michael Kokal, defense attorney. Wexford Health Sources, not the state, is responsible for paying Trimble.
The verdict came after U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough told the jury to disregard part of the testimony from Dr. Dru Hauter, the defense’s expert witness, because representations that he is currently board certified weren’t accurate “As you know, I was very disturbed by the CV (curriculum vitae) and the testimony about the doctor’s qualifications,” Myerscough told attorneys for both sides outside the jury’s presence.
Health care in Illinois prisons is so poor that it violates constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment, according to a report disclosed last year from a court-appointed panel of medical experts that included a former IDOC medical director. The state had indicated that it was willing to settle the federal lawsuit that resulted in the panel being appointed, but has changed course since Gov. Bruce Rauner took office, according to Alan Mills, a Chicago attorney who represents the plaintiff.
While he isn’t familiar with Trimble’s case, Mills said that he isn’t surprised by the allegations.
“This is exactly the sort of issue that the expert report has documented,” Mills said. “Serious treatment for people has been delayed for months or even years. Doctors seem to think that Tylenol is the answer for everything from sprained knees to cancer to broken bones.”
A six-figure verdict isn’t common in prisoner lawsuits, Mills noted.
“No question, it’s big,” Mills said. “I see this as a sign that people are finally figuring out what’s going on in IDOC and prisoners are not just making this up.”
With the exception of improved recordkeeping at prisons in Decatur and Lincoln, Mills said that medical care in state prisons has deteriorated since the panel of experts issued its report condemning prison health care.
“It’s actually gotten worse,” Mills said. “I think, without exception, (inmates who’ve complained) have said ‘Now I have a bunch of new problems that haven’t been addressed.’” Mills is now attempting to get the lawsuit that prompted the expert report certified as a class-action matter. He said preparation for trial has been hampered due to tardiness by the state in producing documents.
“They routinely say ‘The state hasn’t bought any paper, so we can’t make copies of medical records,’” Mills said.
Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].
