Oregon Inmate's Flu Death Results In $2.75M Settlement

Oregon Inmate's Flu Death Results In $2.75M Settlement

Introduction

The family of an inmate who died from the flu at the Oregon State Penitentiary reached a record $2.75 million settlement with the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC), and its Director Colette Peters publicly apologized to the family. According to the court records, the inmate from Medford entered state custody in 2017 after being convicted of robbing a bank. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 70 months in prison with eligibility for early release. Soon after he began his sentence, he was diagnosed with confusion, bipolar disorder, brain injury, hallucinations, and depression and was transferred to intermediate care housing. He contracted the flu in January 2018 and did not receive a flu vaccine at the prison in 2018 or 2017, and within a month after contracting the flu, he died on Feb. 6, 2018. A $15 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the inmate's brother, claiming the Corrections medical staff and officials of failing to treat the 54-year-old inmate for the flu and then covering up his flu-related death. The suit accused the staff of negligence, civil rights violations, disability discrimination, and ruining or destroying evidence surrounding the inmate's death. The settlement came nine months after the lawsuit was filed and is considered the largest ever paid in Oregon prison history.