CHARLESTON – The mother of a southern West Virginia man blames a lack of proper medical care while he was in jail for his death.
Wanda Perdue, as administratrix of the estate of Charles Perry, filed her complaint January 25 in Kanawha Circuit Court against PrimeCare Medical of West Virginia.
“The lack of medical care in this case is atrocious,” attorney L. Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “Charles Perry spent the last days of his life suffering and in obvious need of medical treatment from a higher care medical facility. All of his vital signs indicated severe sepsis.
diTrapano
“He suffered needlessly and horribly the last days of his life and instead of receiving appropriate care, Mr. Perry’s medical needs were ignored by PrimeCare, ultimately leading to his death from septic shock.”
According to the complaint, Perry was incarcerated at Southern Regional Jail in Raleigh County after being arrested for outstanding warrants December 30, 2019, outside Bluefield Regional Medical Center. He was being treated there after an overdose which occurred earlier that day at Perdue’s residence.
He was booked at Southern Regional Jail and given a standard intake assessment. The urine drug screen showed amphetamines, methamphetamine, marijuana and fentanyl in his system. He reported he was a heavy user of opiate narcotics, and he was placed in opioid detox observation and a clonidine detox protocol.
On January 2, 2020, Perry complained he was experiencing pain in “his left side of rib, having difficulty breathing,” according to medical records, and an x-ray was ordered.
“There are no chart notations indicating that Mr. Perry’s vital signs were ever taken from the time of his intake evaluation on December 30, 2019, through January 2, 2020, when …charting indicates that he was brought to the SRJ medical unit stating that he ‘can’t breathe,” the complaint states. “Mr. Perry’s medical records indicate that he was next assessed … at 6:56 p.m. on January 3, 2020, as part of the opiate detox protocol, whereupon Mr. Perry exhibited signs of hypotension and tachycardia, with blood pressure readings of 84 over 58 and 84 over 60 and heartrate readings of 120 and 134, respectively.”
The complaint says Perry’s vital signs were either not taken or not recorded on January 4 and January 5.
On January 6, he was transferred to the medical unit for “sinus tachycardia.” Later that day, he was transferred to Raleigh General Hospital, where he was placed in intensive care. The next day, he was being treated for “contusion of the spleen, sepsis and a collapsed lung.”
He then was transferred to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, where he died January 25, 2020.
Perdue accuses PrimeCare of medical malpractice, negligence and vicarious liability. She seeks compensatory damages for Perry’s pain and suffering, medical expenses and other recoverable losses. She also seeks punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
She is being represented by diTrapano, Benjamin Adams and Sean Shriver of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston as well as by Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 22-C-69
