3rd Suit Filed Over Medical Care at Jail

A group of attorneys is suing the private company that provides medical care to the Ventura County Jail, accusing it of a pattern of violating inmates’ medical rights in a quest for higher profits.

On Tuesday, a day after a $1.4-million settlement in the deaths of two sick inmates was announced, the lawyers said they filed a third lawsuit in federal court on behalf of a former inmate whom they contend was denied timely medical treatment and now suffers from testicular cancer.

County officials expressed support for the provider, California Forensic Medical Group, which has been providing medical care in the county’s jail system since 1987.

Frank O. Sieh, chief assistant county counsel, said the company was doing a “very good” job overall. Phil Erickson, a lawyer representing the Sheriff’s Department, said the two inmates’ deaths were isolated incidents.

But Sonia Mercado of Los Angeles, one of three lawyers pursuing the cases against California Forensic Medical Group, said the company places profit above patient care and the sheriff’s office turns a blind eye because it is not financially liable.

Under the county’s contract with the medical group, the company bears most of the liability when inmates’ medical treatment is at stake. The county paid only $100,000 of the combined $1.4-million settlement for the deaths of Raul Madera and Noel Perez, who were serving jail sentences in 1996 and 1997 when they died of conditions that appeared to result from tonsillitis and sinusitis, respectively.

Bob Dickson, attorney for the medical group, said Madera and Perez received good care and that neither settlement was an admission of wrongdoing. As for the plaintiff in the latest case, Jose Torres, Dickson said he has gotten “superb medical care.”

“He was referred to a specialist as soon as his condition was known. He had surgery,” Dickson said. “I don’t even know why they filed this case.” Mercado said the man’s testicle was the size of a softball when he complained.