$10M judgment awarded in death of Oregon jail inmate

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A federal judge has approved a $10 million judgment against Corizon Health and other defendants, settling a lawsuit brought by the parents of a 26-year-old woman who died pleading for medical help while detoxing from heroin in jail.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the settlement offered by Corizon was accepted this week by Madaline Pitkin’s parents.

Pitkin died April 24, 2014, on her seventh day at the Washington County Jail in Hillsboro after her arrest on a warrant and heroin possession charge. Court papers say she had made four written pleas for help that medical staff mostly discounted or mishandled.

The family’s lawyer said an autopsy determined her cause of death was dehydration.

In a statement, Corizon said its medical team at the jail “failed Madaline Pitkin and her family.”

They stopped providing medical services at the jail in 2015.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com