Family of Indian Woman who Died in Chicago Jail Files Lawsuit: Denied Medical Care, Locked-up for Missing Jury Duty

From [HERE] The family of Lyvita Gomes, who died while in custody in a Lake County, Ill., jail, filed a wrongful death suit June 7 seeking an unstipulated amount of monetary damages, alleging that the sheriff’s department and jail personnel denied the former flight attendant appropriate medical care. Gomes, 52 at the time of her death on Jan. 3, was jailed for failing to show up for jury duty. She died after going on a hunger strike that lasted more than 15 days. Her family claims that administrative and medical personnel at Lake County Jail ignored obvious signs of Gomes’ mental and physical illness, which led to her death.

The suit names Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran; Wayne Hunter, chief of operations at the jail; and three others, including Dr. Hargurmukh Singh, who provided medical care for inmates through a contract with Correct Care Solutions. It was filed by the Chicago-based People’s Law Office on behalf of the estate of Lyvita Gomes.

In April, Curran hired a private attorney, Terry Ekl, to determine whether there was misconduct in Gomes’ death as well as the death of Eugene Gruber, who died in a hospital March 3 of pneumonia resulting from paralysis, four months after he was dragged through Lake County jail by guards who had earlier allegedly twisted his neck in a take-down move.

Contacted by telephone in Mumbai, Oydsteven Gomes, Lyvita’s brother, told India-West he was not a plaintiff in the suit and did not wish to comment on why he was not involved in the case.

Alfredo Miranda, owner of Miranda Funeral Services, which conducted Gomes’ funeral, has been named administrator of her estate and is the plaintiff. Miranda also told India-West he did not want to comment on the lawsuit.

Rodney Fernandes, Gomes’ brother-in-law who resides in the U.K., said in a press statement, “Lyvita’s death has caused pain and anguish for the family but has also scarred the conscience of the community of Chicago and the international world at large.”

“We believe that the judiciary system, the prison services and the healthcare services to the prison system have let down the Gomes family through a collective failure that should have not submitted Lyvita to such a tragic end.” said Fernandes, the husband of Lyvita’s sister Lyemia.

Gomes was first taken into custody in October, 2011, after failing to show up for jury duty. As a non-U.S. citizen, she was ineligible to serve on jury duty, but would have had to show up on the appointed date and present documents to show her ineligibility.

When she was arrested in October, Gomes allegedly resisted detention by pulling her hand away from the deputy sheriff who was trying to arrest her. She spent two days in jail before personnel turned her over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, allegedly because her visa had expired. ICE processed her case and released her.

But Gomes was arrested again on Dec. 14, for failing to appear in court on the charges of resisting arrest. Once in jail, Gomes immediately began a hunger strike, refusing both food and liquids, including water. She could not post a $500 bail bond, and so continued to be held in custody.

In court documents, the family alleged that “Defendants were aware throughout her detention that Ms. Gomes was in need of medical and mental health treatment, and their deliberate indifference to her serious medical needs resulted in her death.”

Gomes’ weight dropped from 146 lbs. to 128 lbs. in 14 days. She refused to talk to medical staff and did not allow them to take her vital signs, an obvious indication of her mental illness, according to the suit.

Singh, a psychiatrist, diagnosed Gomes as being psychotic on Dec. 24, but the suit alleges that neither he nor Dr. Rozel Elazegui, also a defendant in the suit, did anything to ensure Gomes’ safety. Singh saw Gomes again on Dec. 27, and determined she was in an obvious psychotic state and clinically incompetent to make decisions about her own health. Nevertheless, according to the suit, neither he nor Elazegui did anything to ensure Gomes’ physical well-being. 

On Dec. 29, after Gomes became so dehydrated that her kidneys failed, another physician ordered Gomes moved to a hospital, where she was fed intravenously.

The defendants also violated Gomes’ Vienna Convention rights, which stipulate that foreigners incarcerated in the U.S. must be allowed to notify consular officials of their home country.

“Failure to notify without delay the Indian Consulate and/or Lyvita Gomes of her right to contact the Indian consulate, prevented meaningful communication between Ms. Gomes and an official of her own culture, which would have alleviated her feelings of isolation, hopelessness, distress, anxiety and panic and would have prevented her death,” stated the lawsuit.