Washington State DOC to Pay $3.25 Million for Prisoner’s Death Due to Medical Malpractice
On June 2, the Washington State Department of Corrections agreed to pay $3.25 million to the family of a prisoner who died in custody after receiving substandard medical care for a festering abdominal wound. After John Kleutsch, 57, died in August 2018 at the Monroe Correctional Complex, his widow, Julia Kleutsch, filed suit in King County Superior Court alleging wrongful death due to medical malpractice.
The incident began when Kleutsch, who was serving a sentence for child molestation, underwent outpatient cancer surgery and was placed in the prison infirmary for recovery. His abdominal incision was not healing properly, and Kleutsch complained of excruciating pain. But the medical staff only treated him with Tylenol. According to a report in The Seattle Times, “The wound grew puffy, oozing and tender, and Kleutsch pleaded with Monroe Correctional staff for help.” A nurse expressed concern “that fluids were building up in Kleutsch’s abdomen,” and suggested that Dr. Julia Barnett, then medical director at the Monroe prison, transfer Kleutsch to a hospital. Barnett refused.
Kleutsch continued to deteriorate. The medical staff deemed him unable to eat but neglected for more than a day to give intravenous fluids. Kleutsch “grew dehydrated and his skin clammy,” until he was “finally sent to a hospital emergency room.” There, Kleutsch died “of septic shock, acute pancreatitis and a perforated intestine — conditions never diagnosed at the prison, according to the lawsuit.”
The DOC’s own investigation slammed Kleutsch’s treatment. A “top DOC medical official” reviewed Kleutsch’s records only to find “multiple days of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, no exams, no written notes, and no plan of care.” The level of negligence was so shocking that lawyers for the state admitted DOC liability in their court filing before the trial even started.
DOC has pointed fingers at Dr. Barnett, who was fired in April 2019, after “an internal DOC investigation” revealed that treatment she provided and supervised had “contributed to suffering and deaths of several men at the prison, including Kleutsch.” DOC admitted Barnett had been hired for the $260,000 a year position “despite lacking some qualifications,” i.e., completion of an approved residency and board certification. Barnett, in turn, blamed DOC administrators, who had invited an “unacceptable level of risk” by leaving her department understaffed. The Washington Medical Commission has indefinitely suspended Barnett’s license to practice medicine.
Unfortunately, Kleutsch’s case is no outlier. The state’s prison system has come under intense criticism for breakdowns in medical care across the state. Lapses include “delays in cancer treatment that have led to deaths.” More lawsuits are on the way, including a $10 million wrongful death action filed in April by the family of Kenny Williams. An inmate at Monroe, Williams died in 2019 after DOC staff allegedly failed to treat his cancer.
Since these issues have come to light, Washington has increased the DOC budget for healthcare by $39 million. Too late for Kleutsch, Williams, and others, but perhaps in time to save other prisoners from the unnecessary pain and untimely death those men endured.