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SALT LAKE CITY — The children of a state prison inmate who died after not receiving his regular dialysis treatment last April have agreed to a settlement with the Utah Department of Corrections.
U.S. District Judge David Sam signed an order Tuesday dismissing the prison from a civil rights lawsuit the family of Ramon C. Estrada filed in June, saying the parties agree it would be costly to litigate and take to trial, and have reached a compromise. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Estrada's four adult children sued Scott Crowther, state prison warden; Richard Garden, the prison's clinical services bureau director; University of Utah Health Care, which was contracted to provide dialysis at the prison; Arsalan Habib, medical director for the South Valley Dialysis clinic; and 20 staff members from the prison and the clinic who have not been identified.
Sam's dismissal order does not apply to University of Utah Health Care, Habib or the clinic workers.
"While our clients Warden Crowther and Dr. Garden have admitted no liability, both they and Utah's Department of Corrections are relieved this case has been resolved and would like to again publicly express their sincere condolences to the Estrada family," said Camille Anderson, spokeswoman for the Utah Attorney General's Office.
Estrada's children, who live in Texas, attributed their father's death to "a shocking degree of deliberate indifference and reckless disregard" for his medical needs. Estrada, 62, died in the prison April 5 after a dialysis technician who provided treatment to several inmates didn't come to the prison for two days.
On the third day without treatment, a Sunday, Estrada died of apparent cardiac arrest from renal failure as prison staff prepared to take him to University Hospital.
Estrada's children sought legal counsel because they wanted to get their father's remains, find out exactly what happened to him and have the prison adopt policies to make sure it doesn't happen again, said their lawyer Alyson McAllister.
"They were able to get some of those things done," she said. "We still don't know the whole story because we don't have the information from the dialysis center and their employees."
A University of Utah Health Care report released April 22 found that two dialysis technicians had arranged to switch shifts for the weekend, but no one went to the prison to provide the treatments. The technician who agreed to cover the shift failed to note the change on his personal calendar.
McAllister said she expects to find out who those employees are in the next month or two and would amend the lawsuit with their names at that time. Lawyers for the U. and Habib have asked the judge to dismiss them from the case.
U. health care officials said changes have been implemented, including an improved scheduling notification and alert system.
Estrada, a citizen of Mexico, was just two weeks from parole when he died. He was sentenced to prison in August 2005 after being convicted of rape.
