Jail’s neglect killed husband, widow says

BY LINDA SATTER ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

   A Sherwood man died last year after his arrest on a drunken driving charge because medical staff at the Pulaski County Jail failed to give him his seizure medication, his widow alleges in a federal lawsuit.

    The lawsuit was filed by Kathy Longwill on behalf of the estate of her husband, William Longwill, who died May 14, 2005, at age 52 after having a seizure in the jail’s shower room.

    The previous day, in sentencing Longwill to a weekend in jail, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox told the sheriff’s office, which operates the jail, that Longwill had a seizure disorder and was to be carefully observed, the lawsuit states.

    A spokesman for the jail told reporters after Longwill’s death that the medical staff was aware that Longwill had been treated for seizures.

    Authorities said that after Longwill’s early morning seizure, he was treated by jail medical staff and returned to his cell. During a routine check later, jail personnel found him having “some type of medical distress” and called paramedics, who drove him to University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital, where he died.

    The lawsuit says that jail staff was aware that Longwill was taking Dilantin, an anti-seizure medication, and ibuprofen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, on a daily basis, but he was not given his medication while incarcerated.

    Shortly after Longwill’s death, the sheriff’s office spokesman told a reporter that the medication Longwill was taking to control his seizures was available at the jail pharmacy. The spokesman also said that during a routine medical screening when he was booked in, Longwill didn’t tell the medical staff when he’d last taken his medication. The spokesman said he nevertheless would have received a dose sometime Saturday, the day he died.

    Longwill had been booked into the jail about 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 13, 2005.

    The lawsuit, filed Thursday by attorney Lloyd W. “Tre” Kitchens III of North Little Rock and Richard Holiman of Little Rock, contends that a failure to properly observe Longwill was also a cause of his death.

    The conduct of the sheriff’s office constitutes deliberate indifference to Longwill’s known medical conditions, as well as a deprivation of his rights under the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions, the suit contends.

    It seeks compensatory and punitive damages.