KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kevin Strickland, who was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years, is suing Missouri’s contracted medical provider for the prison system for depriving him of essential medical care.
Attorneys for Strickland filed a federal lawsuit against Corizon LLC, a private prison health-care contractor, and four Corizon employees for damages related to his medical care while in prison.
The lawsuit alleges that, while Strickland was confined to Crossroads Correctional Center and the Western Missouri Correctional Center, “he was denied timely access to adequate and competent medical care for evaluation and treatment of serious medical conditions.”
“Missouri’s contracted medical provider, Defendant Corizon, added to (Strickland’s) suffering by depriving him of essential medical care for an obvious and serious medical condition” the lawsuit said. “That deprivation of constitutionally required medical care resulted in (Strickland) losing much of his mobility and now having to use a wheelchair.”
While Strickland was in prison, Corizon was under contract with the Missouri Department of Corrections to provide health care services for all inmates confined in state-run correctional facilities.
Strickland was diagnosed in February 2017 with musculoligamentous back pain and possible mild tight hamstring syndrome. The doctor recommended a low stress/low impact activity, exercise and Capsaicin cream.
At a follow-up appointment in May, Strickland said he had difficulty walking from the housing unit to the dining room and said the pain and numbness was getting worse. The doctor prescribed the same regimen as well as an antidepressant.
Strickland had another follow-up appointment on June 15, 2017, during which the doctor saw no improvement in his condition and upped his dosage of the antidepressant.
Strickland then had two self-declared emergencies on July 13, 2017.
During the first emergency, Strickland complained of worsening pain and numbness in his lower back and legs that made it hard for him to walk.
“His condition was determined not to be emergent and he was instructed to follow the MSR (Medical Services Request) process,” the lawsuit said.
Later that day, Strickland had another self-declared emergency and was taken to the Medical Unit in a wheelchair because he was unable to walk.
“Although his condition was determined to be a medical emergency, the nurse noted that he had not declared an emergency within the previous 72 hours and that she would contact the on-call physician, who ordered a Toradol injection,” the lawsuit said. “Strickland was returned to his Housing Unit and instructed to return to Medical if his symptoms worsened.”
Two days later on July 15, Strickland had another self-declared emergency because of pain in his back and numbness and tingling in …….