STATESBORO, Ga. (Legal Newsline) - Prison health care staff are blamed for the January 2022 death of an inmate who suffered from Type 1 diabetes.
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Dec. 21 against Wellpath, LLC and several individuals by Kaylynn Nicole Buchen, the mother of a minor child, A.B., and Jennifer Ashdown, the administrator of Andrew Bryce Irish's estate. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.
The plaintiffs allege that Andrew Bryce Irish experienced pain and suffering prior to his death while in custody at the Bulloch County Jail in Statesboro. Irish was born on December 4, 1996, and died on January 15, 2022, at the age of 25.
"In spite of the prior knowledge of Mr. Irish’s chronic health conditions, including the note on the December 31st arrest/booking report that he had Type 1 diabetes, no one in the Jail checked his blood sugar level until January 4, 2022—four days after his admission into the Jail," the lawsuit says.
Several blood tests after showed dangerously high glucose levels, the suit says, but Irish's physician was not informed.
"On January 15, 2022, at 12:55 a.m., Mr. Irish was found unresponsive in his cell— N3—on the floor of his cell between the toilet and bed. (Lynn) Seamans was on the scene and she and non-Defendant Jail staff were unable to revive Mr. Irish. At approximately 1:18 a.m., a physician at the hospital informed the EMTs who had arrived on the scene to stop life-saving measures," the suit says.
Wellpath is accused of providing inadequate medical care services to people detained in the jail under a contract with Bulloch County and the Sheriff of Bulloch County. Several individuals are named as defendants including Roland Brown M.D., Lynn Seamans, Janet Morris, Dawnielle Trevino, Shawn Blalock, Alison Jones who were all associated with Wellpath or Bulloch County Jail during Irish's detention.
William Claiborne and other lawyers are representing the plaintiffs.