A Washington state woman claims she was forced to give birth in a jail cell's toilet after staff ignored her calls for help, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a U.S. federal court.
The 24-year-old Lake Evans woman claims she went into premature labor while being held at the Snohomish County Jail on Feb. 2, 2013. But instead of receiving medical help for her labor pains, the jail's medical staff told her to "use a feminine napkin and lie down," according to the lawsuit obtained by Seattlepi.com.
It wasn't until hours later when medics arrived to assist the woman, who had already given birth alone in the jail's toilet. She is seeking $150,000 from the county for violating her constitutional rights.
"I can't explain why, when she started feeling pain in her stomach, they didn't do anything," Kenan Isitt, the woman's attorney, told the news site. "She just feels like she was wronged by the jail system."
The woman was seven months pregnant when she was arrested for a drug charge and trafficking stolen property. Jail staff knew she was pregnant because a medical worker examined her days before she gave birth, Seattlepi.com reported.
Five days into her jail stay, her water broke. She pressed her emergency call button as her labor pains got worse and she began to bleed, according to the lawsuit. Isitt says she first called for help sometime between noon and 1:30 p.m.
Other inmates tried alerting jail staff as the woman kept calling for help but no one came, the lawsuit claims. In the meantime, the jail's medical staff allegedly told her to lie down and use a feminine napkin.
"Ultimately [she] gave birth to her son in the toilet of her jail cell, frightened and alone," Isitt said in court, the news site reported.
The inmate gave birth to a boy at around 4:10 p.m. Medics arrived 15 minutes later and both mother and son were transferred to a hospital, the lawsuit claims.
Shari Ireton, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, said jail staff monitored the woman all day, The Herald of Everett reported days after the 2013 incident. Ireton said the woman's water broke and she gave birth 20 minutes later.
"Things happened so quickly that they called 911," Ireton told the newspaper.
The Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the lawsuit, Seattlepi.com reported.
According to court records, the woman was granted a waiver for the trafficking charge because it was her first offence and she was enrolled into to a program for drug addiction.
Her son is being cared for by family.
