2006 News

September 13 , 2006

Courts Dismiss Two More MRSA Claims, In Favor of Bucks County

County Solicitor Guy Matthews announced that last week, the County of Bucks and the Bucks County Correctional Facility (BCCF) won two major cases in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In both cases, former inmates alleged that the county and several prison and health department officials violated their rights by denying them adequate medical care and exposing them to hazardous environmental conditions during their incarcerations. District Court Judge Clifford Scott Green disagreed and held that the county and each of the individual defendants acted appropriately and, in fact, took affirmative steps to ensure the inmates’ health and safety, and therefore dismissed each case as a matter of law.

On September 1, 2006, Judge Green dismissed the case of Loch, et al. v. County of Bucks, et al. There, two former female inmates alleged that they contracted methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a staph infection resistant to a particular family of antibiotics. The county and the individual defendants, represented by Frank A. Chernak and Jamie B. Lehrer of the Philadelphia law firm Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, and Carla P. Maresca of Deasey, Mahoney & Bender, Ltd. argued that the county had in place several policies to prevent the spread of communicable disease in the BCCF and that, when they learned of the presence of MRSA infections in the facility, the individual defendants took several affirmative and effective steps to combat its spread.

Judge Green agreed with the county and prison officials. He first observed that both inmates received extensive treatment for various medical conditions, including MRSA, during their incarcerations. He therefore held that neither the prison nor the health department officials could have been deliberately indifferent to the inmates’ need for medical care. Noting that MRSA is a commonly occurring skin infection both within and outside of correctional settings, Judge Green then held that the mere presence of MRSA infections within BCCF does not support a claim of unconstitutional conditions of confinement. Judge Green further held that both the county and the prison officials took remedial steps to address the environmental conditions in the BCCF and to prevent any risk of harm to the inmates. Finding the inmates’ First Amendment claim, along with their state law claims, legally inadequate, Judge Green dismissed Loch in its entirety.

In the other case, a wife and daughter of former inmate William Graff, who died during his incarceration in the BCCF in 2002, sued the county and several individual defendants. The plaintiffs in Graff, et al. v. County of Bucks, et al. alleged that the county had in place several policies that served to deprive Graff of adequate medical care and expose him to contagious disease during his incarceration, thereby causing his death. The plaintiffs further alleged that both prison and health department officials were deliberately indifferent to Graff’s serious medical needs and to the risk of harm posed by the environmental conditions in the BCCF. The county and the individual defendants, represented again by Chernak and Lehrer and Maresca, denied the plaintiffs’ allegations and argued that, in fact, Graff received extensive medical care for his numerous health problems during his incarceration. They further argued that there was no evidence suggesting that Graff’s death was caused by any county policy or that any individual defendant acted with deliberate indifference.

Judge Green agreed with the defendants. Noting that “the record discloses medical treatment to Mr. Graff during the course of his various confinements at BCCF,” Judge Green held that there was no evidence that any of the prison and health department officials were deliberately indifferent to Graff’s serious medical needs, nor was there any evidence that the individual defendants or the county established policies that denied or restricted Graff’s access to medical care. Again finding the plaintiffs’ remaining First and Fourteenth Amendment claims to be legally inadequate, Judge Green dismissed Graff in its entirety.

These two victories come just weeks after the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in favor of the county by upholding the dismissal of a case involving a former corrections officer and his wife, John and Dawn Kaucher, who had alleged that they had been injured by the spread of MRSA in the BCCF.

“The medical and correctional staff at our county corrections facilities dedicate themselves on a daily basis to the security, protection, health and rehabilitation of our inmates,” noted commissioners’ Chairman James F. Cawley, Esq. “Allegations of indifference couldn’t be farther from the truth, and I am pleased to see the courts acknowledge this, as well.”