Family sues over woman’s death in Milwaukee jail
Inmate never received medical screening, according to complaint
The children of a woman who died in the Milwaukee County jail have sued the county, various sheriff ’s officials and the company that contracts to provide health care to inmates in the latest of a series of wrongful death claims against the defendants.
Kristina Fiebrink, 38, was one of four inmates who died at the jail between April and October 2016. Among them was Terrell Thomas, 38, whose dehydration death led to criminal charges against some jail officials and Armor Correctional Health Services.
“While under the defendants’ care and custody, Fiebrink was subjected to inadequate and unconstitutional health care that involved the wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain,” the complaint reads.
It was filed late Thursday in federal court in Milwaukee by Fiebrink’s estate and its special administrator, Shorewood attorney Nathaniel Cade. Other plaintiffs include Fiebrink’s two sons and the estate of her daughter. According to the complaint: Fiebrink entered the jail Aug. 24 suffering from heroin and alcohol withdrawal but never got a medical screening. On the night of Aug. 27 and into the next morning, she was suffering hallucinations, vomiting and had profuse diarrhea. Her cries for help could be heard throughout the 6D Unit, yet she received no medical treatment and died on the floor of her cell, where she was found unresponsive about 7:20 a.m. Aug. 28.
The suit claims the defendants’ omissions violated Fiebrink’s rights under the 4th, 8th and 14th amendments. It seeks damages for substantial pain and suffering, loss of society and companionship and loss of life as well as punitive damages.
With the legally required assessment, care and monitoring, Friebrink’s death was preventable, the suit asserts.
Three licensed practical nurses for Armor are accused in the lawsuit of failing to conduct assigned “detox/withdrawal monitoring sessions” with Fiebrink on successive days and instead “upon information and belief, fabricated a record that Fiebrink refused detox/ withdrawal monitoring.”
An Armor doctor and two advanced nurse practitioners are also named as defendants, along with former Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., acting Sheriff Richard Schmidt, who was in charge of the jail in 2016, and several correctional officers who the suit claims “ignored Fiebrink’s cries for help and obvious state of distress.”
The suit also names as defendants another 20 unnamed “John Doe” employees of the jail and Armor, plus the insurers for both the county and Armor.
Besides Fiebrink and Thomas, a newborn died in July about an hour after jail staff discovered an inmate had given birth in her cell without anybody noticing. Michael Madden, 29, died in the jail in October.
Thomas’ estate and the woman whose newborn died have also sued. Madden’s mother sued last month.
The Fiebrink lawsuit cites the other deaths as evidence of a “persistent and widespread pattern of disregarding constitutionally mandated medical care.”