Patricia Pollock
Patricia Pollock, 25, was held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania while awaiting trial after she could not pay bail. In 2011 she was taken to Mercy Suburban Hospital, where she died of acute fulminant verrucous endocarditis, a severe inflammation of the heart, according to an autopsy report. Her estate's lawsuit says the jail's medical contractor, Correctional Medical Care, treated her for drug withdrawal instead of a heart condition and missed it until too late, and that jail medical staff ignored her symptoms for more than four days. The contractor's attorney denies the company's care was deficient and says Pollock initially denied drug use. The county settled the lawsuit for $325,000, though how much the county itself paid was unclear.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The autopsy attributes her death to acute fulminant verrucous endocarditis, a heart infection, while her estate's lawsuit says Correctional Medical Care treated her for drug withdrawal instead of the heart condition and missed it until too late.
Reported by: autopsy report; estate's lawsuit (attorney Jonathan Feinberg) (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: Her estate sued Montgomery County and Correctional Medical Care, and the county settled the lawsuit for $325,000, though how much the county itself paid was unclear.