Santa Ana : Suit Claims Medical Mistreatment at Jail
An epilepsy victim filed a federal lawsuit against county officials Wednesday, claiming she was injured as a result of a seizure after being denied proper medication at County Jail.
Patricia Zavala, 30, of Santa Ana, who had been arrested on suspicion of prostitution last April, claims in the lawsuit that the medical staff at County Jail refused to let her continue taking medication prescribed for her epilepsy. Instead, she claims, she was given a different medication.
Less than a week later, she claims, she suffered a seizure during a court appearance at Central Municipal Court and fell down several stairs, breaking a toe. The medical staff at UCI Medical Center readjusted her medication and put a cast on her foot, she claims, but when she was returned to County Jail, officials there once again changed her medication and removed the cast.
The lawsuit, filed in Santa Ana, will be assigned to a U.S. district judge in Los Angeles.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Richard J.Olson could not be reached for comment.
Zavala’s attorney, Harry Lerner, said his client is now serving a sentence at the James A. Musick branch jail.
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