Ely State Prison - Allegations of Inadequate Medical Care and ACLU Lawsuit

Allegations of Inadequate Medical Care and ACLU Lawsuit

Ely State Prison was the recipient of numerous criticisms by the American Civil Liberties Union regarding its alleged failure to provide adequate medical care to its inmates.

Dr. William Noel, a medical expert retained by the ACLU, produced a report in December 2007 that described his review of the medical records of thirty five prisoners from ESP. He wrote that "the medical care provided at Ely State Prison amounts to the grossest possible medical malpractice, and the most shocking and callous disregard for human life and human suffering, that I have ever encountered in the medical profession in my thirty-five years of practice."

His report describes in detail the death of Patrick Cavanaugh, an inmate who he claims died due to complications of diabetes, after having received no insulin for a period of three years and having his ulcerated legs left to fester without treatment or amputation. The report also mentions accounts of wholly untreated cases of chronic pain, hepatitis, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and syphilis. The report also notes cases in which an epileptic patient was not regularly equipped with a helmet; in which a stroke sufferer was not given any physical therapy nor even an arm brace to prevent the eventual contraction of his affected limb; and in which a patient was switched back to a potentially lethal medication seemingly out of spite on the part of the prescribing doctor.

On January 23, 2008, the ACLU met with the Nevada State Board of Prison Commissioners seeking a consent decree which would voluntarily have let a federal court oversee prison medical care. Nevada Governor, Jim Gibbons, and other commissioners were presented with a report by Corrections Director Howard Skolnik and Ely State Prison medical director Dr. Robert Bannister refuting Noel's findings. The commissioners rejected the ACLU's request at this point in time.

On March 6, 2009, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Corrections, Governor Gibbons and other state officials. In it, they sought to have a federal judge find that the Corrections Department had not provided inmates with adequate medical care. The suit was settled in July 2010, with the Nevada Corrections Department agreeing to appoint an independent medical expert to monitor the prison's health care system and to submit regular reports evaluating officials' compliance with various medical requirements. It was also agreed that nurses would make daily rounds at the prison to pick up medical request forms and that inmates would have access to a registered nurse or higher level practitioner within forty eight hours of requesting medical attention.