Curtis Montgomery, a bishop at the Greater Christ Temple Church in Tacoma, is seeking damages because, he claims, the staff at the McNeil Island Corrections Center failed to provide adequate medical care for his 32-year-old son, Philip, who died of hepatitis C. If the allegations are true, then the Montgomery case throws one more question mark on the department's ability to provide proper medical care for its wards.
The lawsuit claims that, despite constant pleas for care, state health-care providers ignored Montgomery, who was serving time on burglary charges. "He did not receive regular check-ups and he was not provided a diet appropriate for one with his illness," the suit reads. Instead, Montgomery was put in isolated confinement.
According to the complaint, on September 5, 1999, Montgomery started suffering from a number of serious conditions, including severe fever, abdominal pain, decreased urine output, and debilitating diarrhea. Despite these problems, prison guards did not let him see a nurse until September 7--two full days after his problems began.
After a nurse finally saw Montgomery, he was quickly transported to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tacoma. He died in the hospital that same day.
But the Montgomery family claims that the DOC was more than just negligent. According to the suit, McNeil Island prison staffers were so indifferent to the Montgomerys' plight that they refused to allow family members to visit during their son's final hours. In fact, the prison didn't inform Montgomery's mother, Elinor Montgomery, that her son had been taken to the hospital. (The DOC did would not comment on the case.)
If the allegations prove true, the Montgomery case is not an isolated incident. According to statistics from the state's Department of Risk Management, the DOC has shelled out $1.1 million in punitive damages and out-of-court settlements to inmates and their families for medical neglect cases since 1998. The latest payout occurred this winter--the department paid $245,000 to Sharon Corner, whose mentally ill son died of a heart attack in Monroe's Special Offender Unit in July of 1998. The Montgomery case is being handled by Gordon, Thomas, Honeywell, et al., the same law firm that handled Corner's claim.
