Company pays $4.25M to settle suit over inmate’s death in Fremont County jail
A correctional health care company has agreed to pay $4.25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died in a Colorado jail after being cut off from a prescription medication.
The Gazette reports attorneys for the estate of John Patrick Walter disclosed the settlement Monday with Correctional Healthcare Companies Inc., which had provided medical care to inmates at the time of Walter’s death.
The 53-year-old inmate died in the Fremont County jail in July 2014.
An autopsy later determined he died of benzodiazepine withdrawal after being deprived from a prescribed anti-anxiety medication.
Correctional Healthcare Companies was acquired by Correct Care Solutions Inc. in 2014. The company is now known as WellPath, which did not return the newspaper’s email Monday.
