County to Pay $1.9 Million in Wake of Jail Suicide Try : Settlement: Jury ruled county was liable because it failed to provide psychiatric care for disturbed woman.

The county agreed Tuesday to pay $1.9 million to settle a civil lawsuit stemming from a suicide attempt that left a female jail inmate in a vegetative state.

The settlement, which closes the case and prevents any appeals by the county, comes after a jury determined that the county was liable for injuries sustained by Keon Ja Lee, who attempted to hang herself Jan. 30, 1989, at the Las Colinas women’s jail.

Lee’s husband, Seung Kyu Lee, sued the county after the incident, claiming that county officials failed to provide adequate psychiatric care to a woman with a history of mental instability.

One month ago, a jury determined that the county was indeed liable for Lee’s severe brain damage and violated her civil rights because women were not provided the same psychiatric care as male inmates.

Although men in county jails had access to mental health care 24 hours a day, women in the jail system could seek help only during the day.

Lee, now 39, was in custody on suspicion of stabbing her 11-year-old son with a kitchen knife when she used her nightgown to hang herself.

Before the suicide attempt, UCSD doctors told jail officials that Lee was suicidal and required supervision around the clock. But she was removed from the Mental Health Center at UC San Diego Medical Center and returned to Las Colinas.

Lee’s family originally sought $25 million in the case, according to court documents.

“It’s been a very difficult case for both sides,” said Tom Adler, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit. “It was a long trial. The injuries were very severe.”

Citing the complicated nature of the negotiations, attorneys were reluctant to discuss details of the settlement. “The gross amount is the most important thing,” Adler said.

Attorneys representing the Lee family did say that Lee’s husband and two children will be given a check after the paperwork is final, payments will be made in the future and annuities will be established.

“Because (the children) would have prospectively lost their mother, we included them in the settlement,” Adler said, noting that the two boys were not previously involved in the lawsuit.

Details of the settlement are expected to be completed by January, attorneys said.

The attorney hired to represent the county, Thomas Sharkey, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon.

The lawsuit was settled the day attorneys in the case were scheduled to make long-delayed closing arguments in the damages phase of trial. If the case had moved ahead, Superior Court Judge Michael Greer would have decided how much the Lee family would receive.

The Rancho Penasquitos woman has already cost the county $177,000 in medical care because she was in custody at the time of the suicide attempt. After a judge ruled her incompetent to stand trial in June, 1989, the cost of medical care became the family’s responsibility.