Police nurse can be tried for wrongful death

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for a case to proceed against a nurse from a Westland jail for being “deliberately indifferent” to the medical needs of a man being transferred from one jail to another while suffering from alcohol withdrawal. The man, Larry Bertl, died shortly after arriving at the jail.

The case, Bertl v City of Westland and Renella Thomas, R.N., was originally heard by the district court. Thomas, a nurse at the jail facility, asked the court to dismiss the case based upon the notion of qualified immunity, which is a legal doctrine that says government employees cannot be held legally liable for actions taken in the course of doing their job except in particular circumstances.

The district court denied Thomas’ motion and Thomas appealed that denial to the appeals court, which has now upheld the lower court ruling. Barring an appeal to the Supreme Court, the district court will now hear a trial on the question of whether Thomas and the city jail acted with deliberate indifference to the health of Bertl.

The ruling includes the factual allegations of Thomas’ indifference:

By the time they arrived at the Dickerson Police Facility, Officers Vaughn and Sevon had to carry Bertl from the van to the registry area. They took him to Cell # 6 and laid him on the floor.
Vaughn advised his supervisor that Bertl might be in delirium tremens and needed medical attention.
Sergeant Gordish called for medical assistance. Defendant Renella Thomas, R.N., responded to the call. She asked Gordish for information regarding Bertl’s charge, and learned that he was in custody
for an alcohol-related charge, an OUIL [operating under the influence of liquor].

According to the statements of various prisoners, Bertl visibly suffered from a severe medical condition. Prisoners stated that he appeared unconscious and nonresponsive and that he shook
uncontrollably. Thomas approached, but never entered, the cell. She refused to evaluate him until the guards “dressed out”1 Bertl in prison clothes. She also stated that the guards should dress him out before taking him to the third floor medical clinic. She left the registry area shortly thereafter and
never returned.

The officers who arrived to “dress out” Bertl noticed that he had stopped breathing. Prison doctors and nurses commenced CPR, and called an ambulance. EMT arrived and took Bertl to the Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The district court found that “evidence that Thomas failed to enter Bertl’s cell and check his vital signs, ordered that guards dress Bertl out before taking him to the medical clinic and failed to call a doctor established a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Thomas was deliberately indifferent to Bertl’s medical needs.”

Thomas disputes the sequence of events. The district court will now hear a full trial on those allegations.