Nurse Defends Jail’s Care of Inmate : Justice: Injuries to Stanley Malinovitz, who died in custody, weren’t unusual or severe, according to testimony in a suit against the county.

A county nurse testified Tuesday that she did not think an inmate who died in jail needed immediate medical attention despite his state of confusion, uncontrollable laughter and obvious injuries and bruises.

Nurse Helen Johnson, who examined Stanley Malinovitz shortly after he was admitted to the Los Angeles County Jail on Jan. 24, 1984, said she thought he had a mental illness and sent him to the jail mental ward for closer observation and in-depth examination.

Testifying on behalf of the county, Johnson said Malinovitz’s physical injuries, which included bruises on his back and stomach and injuries on his face and arms, were not severe or unusual among jail inmates.

Malinovitz, 38, died from a blood clot in his lung four days after he arrived in jail. His wife and children are suing the county for unspecified damages. They claim that the county never provided Malinovitz with medical care despite obvious symptoms that something was wrong.

County lawyers have argued that Malinovitz’s bizarre behavior stemmed from a mental illness, not the blood clot that killed him. They say that jail staff caring for Malinovitz provided appropriate treatment for someone who was mentally ill and that Malinovitz never showed any symptoms of his fatal physical ailment.

Johnson said Malinovitz would not cooperate when she tried to take his blood pressure and asked him about his medical history. Rather than sending him back to the unit with the rest of the inmates, she said, she sent him to the mental ward for observation and care.

“I was sure he was unable to take care of himself,” she said.

Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies testified Tuesday that Malinovitz appeared to be mentally unbalanced but not in need of immediate medical attention.

Deputy Jack Wegner, a 21-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, said Malinovitz was “obviously disturbed” when he came to the San Fernando Courthouse on Jan. 24, 1984, to be arraigned on assault charges for allegedly pushing an elderly lady to the ground at a shopping mall.

“He was yelling incoherent statements that people were trying to kill him and that his wife and brothers had given him something to make him crazy,” said Wegner, who was a guard in the holding tank at the courthouse.

Deputy David Busk, who escorted Malinovitz through the jail admittance procedure later that day, said he was convinced that Malinovitz did not realize he was in jail. Busk said he twice made racial slurs about black people.

“He didn’t know where he was,” Busk said. “I thought he was either looking to get hurt or going to get hurt, if he made comments like that in the Men’s County Jail.”