Amber Lynae Bills
Amber Lynae Bills, 34, of Big Rapids, died on December 30, 2018, while held in the Montcalm County Jail in Michigan. Her mother said she is now raising Bills' daughter and has no answers to give her. Her cellmate says Bills complained of stomach pain, asked three times to be taken to the hospital, and was told by a nurse to drink water. The sheriff's office said staff were monitoring her for stomach pain and withdrawal symptoms, and an autopsy found an undiagnosed perforated ulcer, while the death certificate lists natural causes; the family says they were first told she had a heart attack. A federal lawsuit says she was in severe pain for five days before she died and names the county, jail employees and medical providers.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The medical examiner and the sheriff's office attribute her death to a perforated ulcer with peritonitis and say an outside review found no policy violations, but her family and a federal lawsuit say jail staff ignored her stomach pain and her requests to go to the hospital, and a cellmate says a nurse told her to drink water.
Reported by: Montcalm County Sheriff's Office (the agency that held her); autopsy and death certificate; Michigan Sheriff's Association MISSION team (outside investigators); Amber Bills's family and their federal lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: A federal lawsuit filed in 2020 names Montcalm County, its sheriff's office, 16 sheriff's employees, a Stanton doctor, his medical practice and a nurse over her death, and the county is set to pay $220,000 under a proposed settlement that the Board of Commissioners had not yet voted on.
Sources (7)
- News report
- Inmate’s death under investigation
- Montcalm County Jail inmate found unresponsive in cell, died from undiagnosed ulcer
- Woman who died in jail ‘not treated well by staff,’ cellmate says
- Inmate death investigation rules Big Rapids woman died of natural causes
- Montcalm County Jail inmate cried, ‘Help me, Mommy, help me, I’m sick’ before dying
- Montcalm County set to pay $220,000 in exchange for jail inmate death lawsuit dismissal