County jail healthcare company files for bankruptcy, putting pending lawsuit on hold

Wellpath, a company that provides healthcare services to Orange County Jail inmates, recently announced that it was filing for bankruptcy and undergoing a “reorganization” of its correctional healthcare division. As part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, a federal judge in Texas ordered a stay, or hold, on all lawsuits involving the company, including the one filed by the family of Niki Capaci, who died while in their care.

The lawsuit accuses the county jail and Wellpath staff of “deliberate indifference to serious medical need” and “medical malpractice,” and alleges that both Wellpath and Orange County are liable for Niki’s death.

Jaehyun Oh, the attorney representing the family, said that the judge’s stay order extends to Orange County and its employees, a ruling Oh is hoping to get reversed. Oh said the bankruptcy filing has also disrupted the discovery phase of the lawsuit, which includes the disclosure of evidence and other key documents for the case.

“Understandably, the family is frustrated by the inability to get the answers they were looking for and the indefinite delays,” Oh said in an email exchange. “Through a bankruptcy lawyer, in the bankruptcy case, we filed an objection to the stay being extended to the county and its employee as well as Wellpath’s individual nurse employee (as she’s not filing for bankruptcy individually), so we are waiting for a decision on that. Hopefully we will receive the decision in the next few weeks.”

NPR, which reported on the bankruptcy proceedings last week, quoted Niki’s sister Layla Capaci, saying, “I’m more frustrated about the fact that I feel like [Wellpath is] kind of trying to shirk responsibility. I don’t care as much about my day in court or the money. I care about there being some accountability, someone saying, ‘Hey, we f****d up.’ And I feel like this is kind of a way for them to avoid having to do that.”

The lawsuit

In May 2023, Niki was arrested for a probation violation and sent to Orange County Jail. Three days later, the 40-year-old mother of seven died in jail. The official complaint filed in 2024 with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York details Niki’s last days. It alleges that, upon her arrest, Niki admitted to using heroin, which resulted in her needing to be monitored for opiate withdrawal symptoms.

The lawsuit says she was placed on “special watch” by Wellpath staff that required her to be physically monitored every 15 minutes for any signs of drug withdrawal, such as sweating, nausea, vomiting, and speech problems. The lawsuit alleges that jail and Wellpath personnel “failed to evaluate” Niki every 15 minutes as required.

The family had told NPR that Niki’s addiction stemmed from being prescribed painkillers for several years to manage the pain from an injury. When the doctors stopped prescribing those painkillers, they said Niki then sought other ways to alleviate her pain.

Niki allegedly visited the jail’s medical department several times during the roughly three days she was in the jail. During an initial visit, Niki’s medicine administration chart indicated that she was suffering from nausea and vomiting and given the anti-nausea medication meclizine by Wellpath personnel, the complaint claimed. Niki underwent additional medical screenings the following afternoon and was noted as appearing to be detoxing, which resulted in the administration of an unspecified detox medication, per the court filing.

Later in the day on May 4, Niki allegedly called her daughter and reported experiencing chest, back, and leg pain, at which time her daughter told Niki to seek help via the intercom button in her cell. The complaint then claims her daughter overheard someone say, “You’re not dying, stop pressing the button.”

Then on May 5, Wellpath personnel allegedly listed Niki as having “moderate to severe” withdrawal symptoms, including “constant nausea, frequent dry heaves and vomiting, [and] moderate tremors,” among other symptoms. The lawsuit also alleges that Niki was given buprenorphine for withdrawal despite telling staff that the drug makes her sick, instead of methadone, which she had previously used.

She went to the medical department again for vomiting and other withdrawal symptoms, and was given additional medications, but by the morning of May 6, she was dead, per the complaint.

According to the family, Niki’s county-administered autopsy claimed that she died from “acute drug intoxication including fentanyl, para-fluorofentanyl, xylazine, chlordiazepoxide, and diazepam,” but it did not list her as dying in the jail facility.

The family is suing for damages, pain and suffering, emotional distress, wrongful death, economic damages, and other harm “in an amount to be determined at trial,” as well as attorney’s fees and other monetary relief.

In a statement about the lawsuit issued in July 2024, Orange County attorney Richard Golden said, “Orange County disputes the allegations in the Capaci complaint and will vigorously defend the litigation on behalf of the named corrections officer and the County.”

Wellpath

The Capaci lawsuit is just one of several filed against Wellpath over the years. A 2019 investigative report by CNN found that the company, formerly called Correct Care Solutions, had been sued for more than 70 inmate deaths between 2014 and 2018.

Wellpath says it has operations in 37 states across the U.S., “serving more than 220,000 patients daily in more than 400 facilities, including prisons, jails, state hospitals, forensic treatment, civil commitment centers, and community-based services.”

In its bankruptcy announcement, Wellpath CEO Ben Slocum said, “After evaluating our options, the Board and management team determined that a court-supervised process to facilitate a sale of our Recovery Solutions and a separate reorganization of Wellpath Correctional Healthcare is the best path forward to strengthen our financial foundation and stabilize Wellpath for the long-term. This action will enable us to continue providing for our patients, clients, providers, and team members as we deliver essential services to vulnerable populations...”