Washington: Death Results in Record Judgment

The family of a convicted burglar who died in a Washington state prison three years ago because he could not get medical care has been awarded $1 million. The judgment is the largest to date against the state resulting from cases alleging poor medical care in its prisons.

Philip Montgomery, 32, had hepatitis C and needed Interferon, which can help control the disease. But without explanation, the medical staff at McNeil Island Correctional Center did not give it to him, said Montgomery family attorney Jack Connelly. As a result, Montgomery got an infection that killed him, Connelly said.

After a 1997 review of health care at McNeil turned up deficiencies, the state Department of Health ordered changes. But the facility's infirmary was plagued with a lack of staff and other problems, and the Department of Corrections closed it Dec. 6, 1999. Ill inmates were to be taken off the island for medical care.

But Connelly said this did not happen in the case of Montgomery, the son of a Pentecostal minister and the father of two daughters. Instead, he became sicker by the day. Montgomery's cellmate, Connelly said, testified that Montgomery "was basically dying in front of his eyes." Montgomery was taken to the old infirmary, where blood was drawn for tests, then sent back to his cell, where he continued to worsen. The cellmate called Montgomery's mother and asked her to intervene. When a doctor finally came, "it's unclear if anyone even looked at the tests," Connelly said.

After a guard complained to his supervisor about Montgomery's condition, the prisoner was finally taken from the island to St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, but he could not be revived.

The case against the Department of Corrections, which alleged both medical malpractice and civil rights violations, was to go to trial this week. Kathy Gastreich, department risk management administrator, denied the state had done anything wrong but said since Montgomery's death a number of improvements -- including a new medical director and a policy of placing the sickest inmates in prisons most capable of meeting their medical needs -- had been made in prison health care.

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