The family of a La Plata County Jail inmate who died in custody has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the county, the jail’s medical contractor and individual employees.
Daniel Foard, 32, died on the floor of his cell on Aug. 16, 2023, from a perforated duodenal ulcer that attorneys say was “highly treatable.”
Jail staff members exhibited a “shocking indifference” to Foard’s repeated cries for help and his desperate requests for medical attention over a 15-hour period, the plaintiffs’ attorneys said Monday in a news release.
Foard was booked into the La Plata County Jail on Aug. 11, 2023, on drug possession charges and was undergoing withdrawal protocols from opiates at the time of his death, according to a news release from Holland, Holland Edwards & Grossman, the law firm representing Foard’s family.
Foard was moved to a general population cell Aug. 15 after experiencing withdrawal symptoms, but “suddenly began falling down, reporting that he was experiencing sharp, excruciating and unrelenting abdominal pain, which the nurses themselves charted as ten out of ten,” according to the law firm’s release.
Southern Health Partners’ jail nursing staff then placed Foard in a booking cell, “supposedly to be ‘medically monitored’ by untrained jail Deputies,” according to the release. Attorneys said no vitals were taken and that nursing staff members eventually returned Foard to a cell, reportedly without his pain being treated or diagnosed.
Foard repeatedly called out for help to passing deputies, nursing staff and jail personnel for 15 hours, but was “callously ignored, despite his inability to reliably stand or walk, his acute and agonizing pain, his profuse sweating, labored breathing, and his persistent loud retching and vomiting, including vomiting blood,” according to attorneys on the case.
Jail security cameras documented three hours of Foard’s cries for help, according to the release. The footage shows Foard “begging for help, asking to be taken to the hospital, saying he was going to die, (and) vomiting blood while exclaiming ‘oh my God,’” according to the release.
Foard was reportedly moved to three different cells because of the volume of his vomiting. According to the release, “even all of this was not enough to spur any semblance of a meaningful response. Multiple Deputies, with utter indifference to the bloody vomit Mr. Foard was producing right in front of them, told him to try aiming his vomit into the drain because, as they said, they could not keep cleaning his cells.”
Foard eventually succumbed to the internal damage from the perforated ulcer and died on the floor of cell No. 6 on Aug. 16.
The 65-page complaint was filed in federal court against La Plata County Board of County Commissioners; Southern Health Partners, Inc., which provided medical services to the jail; La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith; and several others in their individual capacities, including Sierra Snooks, Ashley Box, Randall Clark, Amanda Dodge, Patrick Scales, Ryan Davis, Courtney Kellinger and Victor Lopez.
“We are bringing this lawsuit in an effort to hold those responsible for our son’s death accountable,” said Foard’s parents, Jim Foard and Susan Gizinski, in a news release. “We believe it is important for everyone to hear and see the horrific ordeal that Danny went through. And we are hoping this suit will bring about serious changes to the way inmates are treated at the La Plata County Jail, by the medical staff and the Sheriff’s Department as well. As parents, we are compelled to seek Justice on behalf of our beloved son. Losing him is the most horrific experience of our lifetimes.”
La Plata County officials released a statement Monday saying the county “has not analyzed the allegations made in the Complaint” and “does not make public comment on active litigation.”
Sheriff Smith, as well as representatives from Southern Health Partners did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
epond@durangoherald.com
