County pays nearly $5M over heroin withdrawal death in jail

PHILADELPHIA >> A small Pennsylvania county will pay nearly $5 million to the family of a teenager who collapsed and died after four days of heroin withdrawal in jail. The family’s lawyer said jail staff ignored her dire medical needs for days and then lied about it.

Victoria “Tori” Herr, 18, was arrested for the first time on March 27, 2015, after police looking for her boyfriend found drugs in their apartment. Herr told intake staff at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility she used 10 bags of heroin a day, and confided to a cellmate that she feared the withdrawal process would be tough.

She went through severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhea over the next four days, and was given Ensure, water and adult diapers, according to the lawsuit. But she could not keep the fluids down and collapsed of apparent dehydration as she was being brought back to her cell from the medical unit on March 31. She died in a hospital on April 5.

“Anyone who looked at her would have known that she was very sick and that she needed attention,” said Jonathan Feinberg, a civil rights lawyer in Philadelphia who represents her family. “There was a complete disregard for her needs, which can only be tied back to the fact that she was addicted to drugs.”

He said a simple trip to the emergency room for intravenous fluids would have saved her life.

The family settled their civil rights and wrongful death claims with the county this month for $4.75 million, he said. Feinberg believes medical staff lied about taking Herr’s vital signs shortly before the collapse, given that she never regained consciousness.