Lawsuit: Former Marion County Jail inmate says he was denied his cancer treatment

Mark Alesia | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption Hogsett doesn't want a private company running a jail The recommendation would end the $18 million a year paid to the privately-run company CoreCivic, who currently operates Marion County Jail II.

The inmate needed an expensive cancer drug. He says the Marion County Jail gave him ibuprofen.

Laurence Parks, 69, of Indianapolis is suing Marion County, the Marion County sheriff and Correct Care Solutions, the county's for-profit contractor that provides medical care to inmates. He alleges that he didn't receive care for renal cell cancer for more than a month while he was in jail last year.

An expert on health care for prisoners says the lawsuit highlights the predicament inmates can find themselves in.

"People don’t like criminals," said Marc Stern, a University of Washington professor and consultant on correctional health care. "Unless you have a friend or family (who's in jail), unless you really get it, you’d rather put money into other things rather than make prisoners healthier.”

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CCS denied the allegation in court records. A lawyer for the sheriff and county declined comment on pending litigation.

Stern said the law for inmate medical care is well established since a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.

"It’s actually simple," Stern said. "The standard of care is the community standard of care to the extent that something is medically necessary."

The Marion County Sheriff's Office has a $10.2 million contract with CCS for 2018. The oral chemotherapy drug the inmate requested cost $20,000 for a four-week cycle.

How he landed in jail

From a law-and-order standpoint, Parks is not a sympathetic figure. He went to Marion County jail after fleeing from an August auto accident.

Police officers chased him, and according to their report, Parks didn't obey multiple commands from officers. They used a taser to subdue him and found that he was carrying nearly a gram of cocaine. He also had a pending case in Hamilton County on burglary and theft charges.

Attorney Jeff Cardella, who practices constitutional and criminal law, happened to be in the courtroom when Parks told a judge he wasn't getting his cancer medication. Cardella said he approached the public defender and offered to help.

"In our society, we do hold ourselves to a certain standard, and people who are incarcerated are entitled to medical treatment," Cardella said. "There was a part of me that really did think, this is a situation I have the ability to remedy. It’s hard for me to just walk away and say, 'Good luck to you.'"

Another part of his motivation, Cardella said, is to send a message to the sheriff and CCS.

"Litigation is important to make sure that it doesn’t happen again," Cardella said. "If they get the idea that things like this have no economic repercussions, it creates financial incentive to engage in similar behavior."

Parks said his cancer was diagnosed in 2016 and he had a kidney and part of his liver removed. There were also spots on his lungs. Doctors monitored his lungs. Medicare covered the expenses.

After going to jail, Parks made numerous requests for attention to his cancer, the lawsuit said.

'They were trying to stall'

When a judge intervened, the jail doctor told him that Parks was "doing well regarding cancer" when in fact he had received no treatment, according to the lawsuit. By law, the jail doctor remains anonymous in the lawsuit until a medical review board hearing.

Parks continued to ask for treatment and was taken to see a doctor at Eskenazi Hospital. The doctor diagnosed him with renal cell cancer and prescribed an oral chemotherapy drug called Sunitinib.

The jail doctor noted that it was "very expensive." Days later, responding to one of Parks' inquiries about when he would get the medication, the jail doctor wrote to him, "When it and if it gets approved."

"They were trying to stall," Parks said in an interview with IndyStar. "They thought, 'Oh, well, he'll probably get out soon.' I knew what they were talking about. I would hear them."

Parks was given ibuprofen but continued to ask for the chemotherapy medicine. After a judge again contacted the sheriff, this time about Parks' prescribed medicine, the jail doctor said the inmate had been given the first dose that day, according to the lawsuit. But Parks says he hadn't yet received the medication.

After Cardella got involved, Parks notified jail authorities that he would be filing a civil lawsuit. Four days later, he received Sunitinib, the lawsuit said.

For 36 days, Parks didn't receive cancer treatment, exposing him to harm or "significant risk of harm," the lawsuit said.

"When untreated — even for a short period of time — cancer worsens and/or reduces life expectancy," the lawsuit said. "Even a short loss in life expectancy has value."

Contract with medical provider

The lawsuit does not accuse CCS explicitly of denying the medication to make more money.

IndyStar obtained the company's contract with the Marion County Sheriff's Office. It says CCS is responsible for up to $2 million in pharmacy and off-site care costs.

If those costs are less than $1.75 million, the company and the county split the savings evenly. If it's more than $2 million, the county pays.

Parks left jail after pleading guilty to cocaine possession and resisting law enforcement in October 2017. He was sentenced to time served and probation.

He said he continued with four or five more cycles of Sunitinib after leaving jail. Medicare paid.

Call Mark Alesia at (317) 444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia.