.jpg)
LOS ANGELES - The mother of a man who suffered from heart conditions and died while incarcerated in the Los Angeles County Jail took the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and three jail medical personnel to battle in federal court to get payback for her son's death.
According to documents filed on April 2, plaintiff Jacqueline Cothran spoke with the jail multiple times throughout her son Robert Cothran's incarceration at the facility in June of 2019, when he was complaining multiple times to jail staff that he was feeling chest pains and shortness of breath.
Cothran says that the jail knew her son had undergone an extensive operation on his heart and needed to see a cardiologist every month. Despite this knowledge, the jail medical personnel, including defendants Zinnia Malolos, Steve Rodney and Basil Felahy, ignored his pleas to see a doctor for the symptoms he was experiencing for over a month, the suit says.
The decedent and his mother's requests to see a cardiologist allegedly went unheard from June to October, when the symptoms of his heart issue had become so severe that they caused his death on October 27, 2019.
The defendants are charged with denial of medical care, interference with familial relations, failure to train, supervisory and municipal liability, unconstitutional custom or policy, ratification, failure to summon medical care, wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, medical malpractice and violation of California Civil Code.
Cothran asks the court to order the defendants pay her for pain and suffering, litigation expenses, funeral and burial and other damages. She is represented by the Law Offices of Dale K. Galipo.