Donald Nichols, suing in federal court to have Knox County cover his medical bills for the broken neck he suffered in jail. (KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)After five years of legal wrangling and rising attorney’s fees, Knox County is admitting responsibility for shoddy medical care in the case of an inmate whose broken neck went undiagnosed and untreated for nearly three months.
In an about-face, Knox County Deputy Law Director David Wigler this week filed notice in U.S. District Court that taxpayers are on the financial hook for the failure of the medical staff at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility on Maloneyville Road to diagnose and treat the broken neck that former inmate Donald Nichols suffered in a fall from his bunk in August 2010.
“Knox County admits that it is liable to the plaintiff under (civil rights law) for any damages which were proximately caused and in fact caused by the delay of its nurses in obtaining a diagnosis of plaintiff’s neck injury between August 27, 2010 and November 5, 2010,” Wigler wrote.
Read the full story from our news partner, knoxnews.com, here.