PLACERVILLE, CA — A civil rights lawsuit has been filed here over Nicholas Overfield’s death in custody on June 21, 2022, alleging neglect by the jail for refusing to provide his antiretroviral medication for HIV for over two months.
Wellpath, LLC, the medical contractor for the jail, reportedly ignored Overfield’s HIV-positive status and his need for medication at the time of his incarceration, the lawsuit charges.
The pleading alleges Overfield’s condition was well documented and known to the jail from a previous incarceration, and names a Wellpath doctor, two nurses, a health services administrator, and several El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office officials among the defendants.
Patrick Buelna of Pointer & Buelna LLP, the attorneys who filed the suit, claim Wellpath’s neglect led to Overfield developing complications from AIDS and dying roughly four months after his arrest.
“This is not just negligence — it’s a death sentence carried out by people who knew exactly what was at stake,” Buelna said, adding, “Nick’s life was in their hands and they chose indifference over duty.”
The lawsuit states Overfield, who was jailed Feb. 21, 2022, informed the nurses of his need for medication and requested to speak with a doctor. Despite his urgent pleas and the need for blood tests, his requests were ignored for 63 days.
At one point, medical staff sarcastically responded, “You’re not taking care of yourself on the street, why should I take care of you in here,” according to a third-party witness.
“This is cruel and unfathomable. Nick was dying right before their eyes, and yet instead of acting like doctors and nurses confronted with a dire situation, they permitted delay after delay after delay to stand in the way of Nicholas getting the care he so desperately needed,” said Ty Clarke, also with Pointer & Buelna LLP.
Clarke added, “HIV doesn’t simply disappear. There is no excuse or even a plausible explanation for why Wellpath staff did not immediately provide Nick his antiretroviral medication upon learning of his active prescription.”
On April 19, 2022, Wellpath staff found Overfield on the floor of his cell, unable to stand, but did not send him to the hospital despite concerns from the El Dorado Sheriff’s Office. The following day, a Wellpath doctor and administrator visited him but chose not to send him to the hospital, said plaintiffs.
On April 23, 2022, a social worker assessed Overfield’s “mental status” and “was so concerned about Nick’s health that he emailed … the Wellpath administrator in charge of … Wellpath’s operations in El Dorado County Jail … to express his concerns about Nick,” according to the lawsuit.
Overfield’s mother, Lesley, visited him on her birthday, finding him disoriented and unable to speak, the lawsuit noted, adding, “Lesley was so concerned that she rushed out of the visiting room to ask the deputy what happened to her son, but was not provided any information. Instead, the deputy told her that she would have to ask her son—an especially cruel response given that he could not speak—and then walked away from Lesley.”
According to the lawsuit, the next morning, on April 24, nursing staff again found Overfield on his cell floor. Despite his deteriorating condition, a sergeant delayed his transfer to the hospital until a deputy could escort him, causing another 12-hour wait.
By then, it was too late, the lawsuit asserted, stating he was flown from Barton Memorial Hospital to a San Francisco medical center and died in hospice on June 21, 2022, from encephalitis varicella zoster virus, an AIDS-related condition. His death certificate indicates he contracted the virus after two months without medication.
El Dorado County has spent around $25.5 million on Wellpath since 2019, the suit maintained.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Department of Justice investigated Wellpath at San Luis Obispo County Jail in 2021. In this investigation they found that the facility failed to provide HIV antiretroviral medications to certain patients.
“Medications for prisoners with HIV are frequently delayed or not provided during the entirety of a prisoner’s incarceration, which can cause treatment failure by creating drug resistance, or by failing to keep viral loads at an undetectable level,” wrote lawyers for the Justice Department in the report.
“Was Nick’s death about protecting Wellpath’s profit?” Buelna asked, adding the antiretroviral medication prescribed “is one of the more expensive antiretroviral drugs on the market. And sending people to hospitals is one of the most expensive parts of jail health care. Perhaps that is why there was such resistance and foot dragging to get Nick the care he deserved but was ultimately denied.”
Following Overfield’s death, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors amended Wellpath’s contract on Dec. 13, 2022, capping HIV and AIDS medication costs at $10,000 annually, alleged the lawsuit, noting the average monthly cost for Overfield’s needed drug was about $4,000 in 2022. Wellpath now bills the county for any costs exceeding this limit.
The suit adds the contract also requires seeking alternative funding sources for these medications before providing them, with no specified deadline for this process. The lack of a time limit on seeking alternative funding sources is dangerous because it can delay dispensing urgent life and death medications that inmates need to survive.
The updated contract, according to plaintiff’s lawyers, states: “Contractor and County agree to identify and utilize all available HIV/AIDS medication funding sources for each Inmate or Youth prior to assuming responsibility for providing said medications.”
