State Settles Former Inmate’s Medical Suit

In one of the largest medical negligence claims ever settled by the California correctional system, the state has paid nearly $1 million to a man who complained that prison officials ignored his persistent pain when he was serving a sentence for drug possession.

It was not until the day Steven Dodson was released from New Folsom Prison in August 1997 and his girlfriend drove him to a Sacramento emergency room that doctors determined he had a broken neck, and immediately put the former heavy equipment operator under their care.

“It could have been and should have been avoided,” said attorney Cindy L. Robbins, who represented Dodson. “It was a very, very sad case.”

Dodson says he is not sure how or when he broke his neck but that he began to feel pain before he went to prison. The injury could have been caused by roughhousing with his son or by a fall at the Sacramento County Jail before his October 1996 sentencing for methamphetamine possession, he said.

Robbins sued the state for Dodson, contending that the lack of health care amounted to medical negligence and a denial of his civil rights. The allegations were denied by the Department of Corrections, whose doctors dismissed Dodson as a malingerer.

But in April, the state, without admitting any wrongdoing, quietly agreed to an $850,000 settlement with the 47-year-old Sacramento man, who is partially paralyzed.

In confirming the agreement, Corrections Department Director Cal Terhune said: “It seemed to me that the fairest and most appropriate course of action was to see if we could negotiate a settlement rather than fighting the matter out in court.”

The settlement is the latest in a recent string of six-figure payouts to prisoners or their survivors who have alleged mistreatment--from outright brutality to medical negligence--at the hands of the nation’s largest state prison system.

In November, the Department of Corrections settled a lawsuit involving a Corcoran State Prison inmate whose 1994 shooting death sparked an FBI investigation and the indictments of eight officers. Under the agreement, the parents of the dead inmate were paid $825,000.

A month later, the state announced a $2.5-million settlement with the family of a prisoner who was shot to death by a San Quentin prison guard.

Dodson was not available to comment on his settlement, but in an interview last year he said: “If [the prison doctors] had done anything for me, I wouldn’t be like this. . . . I don’t think they thought I’d make it out the gate.”

In interviews and court documents, Dodson and Robbins painted a horrific picture:

At one point, the pain in Dodson’s neck was so bad that he couldn’t walk. When his food tray arrived each afternoon, he had to crawl across the concrete floor of his cell to get it. He couldn’t stand up to get a drink of water and drank from the toilet instead.

One morning, Dodson said, he awoke and couldn’t get out of bed. He lay immobile in his own waste. An infection set in and ate away at his hip, medical records show. He lost more than 100 pounds from his 6-foot frame.

Doctors Said He Was Feigning Symptoms

Prison officials, including doctors who had examined him, believed that Dodson was faking, and gave him ibuprofen, muscle relaxants and a neck brace.

Dodson originally filed his action against prison doctors as well as the Department of Corrections, but the physicians were dropped from the case.

James Schiavenza, the deputy attorney general who represented the department, described the Dodson matter as a “failure-to-diagnose case.”

Schiavenza said prison officials believed that Dodson was “feigning these symptoms and injury,” because when he was alone in his cell he did things he told doctors he could not do. Medical tests also “indicated he was exaggerating or making up his injuries,” Schiavenza said.

He added that there was “sufficient evidence for us to believe he was feigning these symptoms and injury,” but he declined to elaborate.

Acknowledging uncertainty over how the case might have been resolved in court, Schiavenza said: “We thought it was in the best interests of all parties to enter into this no-fault settlement.”

But he said practicing medicine in prison is not easy, because inmates may not be truthful about their ailments. “It’s difficult to get cooperation,” he said.