[A] lawsuit alleges that a Vermont inmate undergoing drug withdrawal and placed in solitary confinement died from lack of proper medical care.
The estate of David Bissonnette filed a lawsuit this week in Chittenden County Superior Court in Burlington against the state of Vermont and its contracted prison health care provider Centurion alleging that their neglect and failure to provide needed care led to the 38-year-old man’s death.
The lawsuit also names as defendants several employees for both the state Department of Corrections and Centurion.
Those defendants include Greg Hale, superintendent of the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton, where Bissonnette was incarcerated.
The 25-page lawsuit filed by attorney James Valente of the Brattleboro firm Costello, Valente & Gentry P.C. seeks unspecified damages on behalf of Bissonnette’s 12-year-old daughter and her mother, Christine Sabens, who both live in Chittenden County.
Valente could not be reached Thursday for comment. Michael Touchette, commissioner of the state Department of Corrections, said Thursday he could not comment on pending litigation. Officials with Centurion could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Seven Days was first to report on the lawsuit on Wednesday.
Bissonnette died of a cardiac infection on Nov. 22, 2016, after being in solitary confinement for 15 days and having his claims of ill health attributed to anxiety, according to the lawsuit.
According to the filing, Bissonnette struggled with addiction and used drugs intravenously.
Prior to the arrest that landed him in the Swanton facility, according to the lawsuit, Bissonnette had been using buprenorphine, the generic form of Suboxone, a drug used to treat opiate addiction that can also be abused.
According to the lawsuit, Bissonnette reported on his “initial needs survey” and “intake medical screening form” that he had been using the drug.
No reason was ever documented for why Bissonnette was placed in administrative segregation, also known as “the hole” where an inmate is locked down in a cell for 23 hours a days, for at least 15 days prior to his death, according to the lawsuit.
“It thus appears,” the lawsuit stated, “that officials from NWSCF addressed the problem they created by stopping buprenorphine by imposing administrative segregation in contravention of their own policies, so that they would not be forced to actively supervise someone going through the torment of sudden opioid withdrawal.”
The lawsuit also traces the legal steps leading to Bissonnette’s incarceration.
In 2015, the lawsuit stated, Bissonnette was charged with petty larceny and he began taking part in the Chittenden County treatment court, appearing every other week for scheduled conferences in court, the lawsuit stated.
On March 19, 2015, according to the filing, Bissonnette failed to attend a scheduled conference and a $3,000 warrant was issued for his arrest. He was arrested Nov. 5, 2016, and held for lack of $3,000 bail. He was also charged with stealing a laptop and violating the conditions of his release.
At Bissonnette’s arraignment the next day, according to the lawsuit, the judge added $1,000 to his bail, making it $4,000, an amount he couldn’t afford to post. As a result, he was sent to the Swanton prison.
At the prison on Nov. 7, Bissonnette was placed in administrative segregation, with his one disciplinary report, a minor one, given to him Nov. 9, two days later, for possessing “less than one cigarette,” the lawsuit stated.
Administrative segregation, the filing stated, cannot be imposed on an inmate for such a minor violation, according to Department of Corrections policies.
Also, according to department policies, the lawsuit stated, Bissonnette should not have been held in administrative segregation for more than four days prior to a hearing on his being in “the hole.”
“If a hearing had been held … there would have existed no grounds to continue his segregation,” the lawsuit stated.
It was Hale, the prison’s superintendent, who was responsible for making sure that such a hearing took place, or had been waived, the lawsuit stated, adding that there is no sign that Bissonnette waived such a hearing.
“Although Bissonnette’s time in segregation lasted two (2) weeks, it does not appear his placement in segregation was ever reviewed,” the lawsuit stated. “Bissonnette remained in segregation for at least 15 days, with neither basis nor oversight, from November 7, 2016 until November 22, 2016, the day he died.”
According to the lawsuit, Bissonnette repeatedly told corrections and medical staff about his chest pains, difficulty breathing and headaches, receiving little care or follow-up.
On Nov. 16, the lawsuit stated, Bissonnette yelled from his cell, “I can’t breathe.” He then was told by medical staff that his vital signs were stable and was likely suffering from panic attacks, and he was given a book of word search puzzle to ease his anxiety.
On Nov. 22, he was rushed from the prison to a nearby hospital and eventually to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.
“Despite the administration of the maximum doses of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and vasopressin Bissonnette suffered from multiple cardiac arrests,” the lawsuit stated. “Bissonnette’s mother, who had arrived, agreed to discontinue resuscitation efforts, and Bissonnette passed away.”
An autopsy later revealed that the cause of his death was bacterial endocarditis, a heart infection, according the lawsuit.
“Taken together,” the lawsuit stated, “the acts and failures in the days leading up to and on the date of Bissonnette’s death resulted in multiple missed opportunities for diagnostic investigation, treatment of the bacterial endocarditis, and timely emergency medical care.”
The filing added, “Those acts and failures proximately caused Bissonnette’s death.”