The mother of a King County Jail inmate whose grisly death from a bleeding ulcer figured prominently in a federal investigation into conditions at the downtown Seattle facility has sued the county and the doctor and nurses who failed to recognize his symptoms and get him help.

Testimony at an earlier inquest hearing showed that the 48-year-old Lynn Dale Iszley died after suffering for hours in agony while medical staff at the jail attributed his condition to heroin withdrawal. The inquest jury, in a rare finding against the county, determined that Jail Health Services contributed to Iszley’s death.

The lawsuit also names Dr. Anthony Rains, a Jail Health Services physician who treated Iszley. Rains resigned during an investigation into Iszley’s death. Also named were two Jail Health Services nurses, Flora Cruz and Eric Shirley, both of whom treated Iszley during the hours leading up to his death.

Update, 6:23 a.m., Mar. 19 James Apa, communications manager for Public Health — Seattle & King County, which oversees Jail Health Services, said the agency doesn’T comment on pending litigation. “Mr. Iszley’s death was tragic, and we extend our sincere condolences to the family,” he said.

Iszley had a long history of drug abuse and petty crimes when he was booked into the jail for drug possession July 15, 2007. He was sick from drug withdrawal and was seen by Jail Health Services staff several times over the next two days, according to the lawsuit.

On July 18, at 4:40 a.m., Iszley pressed the emergency call button in his cell and told a guard he thought his “liver had exploded.” The guard called for medical help, and a nurse responded, found Iszley’s blood pressure and heart rate normal, and said he could remain in his cell.

Four hours later, Iszley was found on the floor of his cell, shaking and sweating and unable to sit up without help. He was taken to the infirmary, where Rains found the inmate writhing in pain, his heart racing. Still, Iszley was kept at the jail infirmary where his condition continued to deteriorate.

The lawsuit alleges that Cruz and Shirley failed to notify Rains — who had gone home for the day — as Iszley’s symptoms worsened and the inmate slipped into shock. Rains testified at the hearing that, had he known the inmate’s vital signs — which included plummeting blood pressure and a racing pulse — he would have called paramedics and had him taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Instead, Iszley lay in the infirmary for hours as, an autopsy later showed, feces and the other contents of his ulcerated intestines spilled into his gut and caused a raging infection.

Around 5 a.m. on July 19, Iszley stumbled as he attempted to get up from his mattress in the infirmary. Other inmates helped him back to his bunk, and he refused breakfast. At 7:30 a.m., he was found dead.

Iszley’s death featured prominently in a sharply critical November 2007 letter from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which found that the county routinely violated the civil rights of inmates in its care. The letter said Justice lawyers found “life-threatening” deficiencies in the health care of some inmates.

The county and the Department of Justice have since reached an accord — backed by a Justice suit — aimed at improving jail conditions.

My condolences to the family.

If you have lost a loved one in Washington State due to negligence give us a call. Our Lynnwood, Washington wrongful death lawyers have over 30 years experience and know what it takes to get you financially compensated for the loss of a loved one.

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