Opinion ID: 4567449
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: General Population

Text: The parties’ accounts of the next three days vary significantly. There is very little documentation of what transpired during this time because Griffith was no longer under observation by FCRJ staff and because he did not fill out any sick slips after being transferred to general population. According to Defendants, November 11th–13th were uneventful. During that period, Griffith also drank water, purchased and consumed snacks from the canteen, and did not complete any sick call slips. Griffith does not dispute this, but states that he remained extremely ill and was pale, sweating, and vomiting constantly in his cell. Two of his cellmates, Stephen Fowler and Eugene Franklin, testified that they attempted to alert the guards to Griffith’s medical condition by knocking on the cell window, but that the guards responded that they would remove Fowler’s and Franklin’s TV privileges if they did not stop banging on the glass. Franklin further testified that one of the guards, Officer Webb, ultimately responded to the prisoners’ requests for help by telling them that Griffith had “been checked out” and that he was “fine.” Franklin Dep., R. 74-4 at PageID 1429. There is no evidence that Webb or any deputy jailer conveyed the cellmates’ concerns to medical staff. At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 14th, Griffith suffered a seizure while on the top bunk in his cell, causing him to strike his head on the wall and metal bunk. A cellmate alerted Deputy Kristyn Drake to Griffith’s condition, and Deputy Drake radioed for LPN Mundine to provide medical assistance. Griffith was purple in the face and breathing erratically, but began to stabilize while waiting for Mundine to arrive. Mundine observed that Griffith had no visible head injury, and Griffith denied that he was in any pain or that he had a history of seizures. Griffith was escorted to booking for further examination. Mundine called Sherrow to report the incident, and Sherrow advised Mundine to treat Griffith for temperature, have him moved to the bottom bunk, monitor him, and complete a urine Nos. 19-5378/5438/5439/5440 Griffith v. Franklin County, Ky., et al. Page 9 test for drugs. Mundine tested him for drugs, which came back positive for THC only. Griffith reported that he had been vomiting for days, so Mundine gave him Gatorade and prescribed an anti-nausea drug, Phenergan. Mundine provided this prescription without first contacting an APRN, which, according to Griffith, was inconsistent with SHP’s protocol and outside Mundine’s scope of practice. Nurse Mundine did not notify a doctor or an APRN about Griffith’s seizure. After Griffith stabilized, he asked to return to his cell rather than stay in booking. Although Mundine had planned to keep him in booking while she completed her medical pass, she complied with his request and returned him to his cell with orders that he be moved to the bottom bunk. Mundine completed her rounds as planned and returned to continue reading Griffith’s charts. She then learned about his ongoing medical problems from the preceding days. At 5:40 p.m., after being returned to his cell but before Mundine completed her review of his files, Griffith experienced a second seizure. Mundine again responded, and she found Griffith in a similar condition as after his first seizure—blue skin, erratic breathing, dilated pupils, and mild disorientation. Mundine then sent Griffith to the local emergency room at Franklin Regional Medical Center for observation and treatment. Sherrow was initially unhappy with Mundine for hospitalizing Griffith without first consulting with her, but she later acknowledged that Mundine did the right thing. After being admitted to the local emergency room, Griffith was diagnosed with acute renal failure. The medical records from the emergency room are unclear about the cause of the initial illness and vomiting, the cause of the renal failure, and the cause of the seizures.4 His discharge paperwork form states: “[Griffith’s] presentation is complex. Differential [diagnosis] is broad.” FRMC Physician Record, R. 101-18 at PageID 3892. It then discusses potential causes for his renal failure and seizures (including rhabdomyolysis, HUS, toxic ingestion, serotonin syndrome, encephalitis, or meningitis) but does not reach any resolution. 4 None of Griffith’s medical records indicate that he informed medical staff that he had begun vomiting after he was struck in the lower back by a baseball during the attempted robbery. Nos. 19-5378/5438/5439/5440 Griffith v. Franklin County, Ky., et al. Page 10 Griffith suffered a third seizure at the local emergency room, and was airlifted to University of Kentucky Hospital, where he received treatment and remained until November 22nd with diagnoses of acute renal failure, seizure disorder, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (“PRES”), hypomagnesemia, and anion gap metabolic acidosis. His discharge paperwork states that the seizure was “[m]ost likely due to PRES,” which was in turn caused either by “his acute renal failure or possibly intoxication.” UK Discharge Summary, R. 69-33 at PageID 830. There is no other medical evidence about the cause of his seizure. Griffith recovered from the incident but continues to suffer headaches, sleep deprivation, and an increased vulnerability to kidney failure.