December 7, 2005  

Tuomey Nurses Take Stand In Patient's Death

By Crystal Owens
Item Staff Writer
cowens@theitem.com

Medical charts, doctors' assessments and records were at the heart of testimony Tuesday as at least four Tuomey Regional Medical Center nurses took the stand in what is expected to be a two-week trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit of the Rev. Ronel Huggins.

Virginia H. Fisher filed the suit in 2003 in the Sumter County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Huggins, 43, who died in the Sumter County Correctional Center on Dec. 27, 2001, after being arrested in the hospital's waiting room for indecent exposure.

Named as defendants in the suit are Tuomey physicians Luis Muniz, Martha Cushman and Richard Alexander; the hospital itself; the jail now known as Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center; and Eastern Health Care, the agency contracted by the prison in 2001 to provide medical care for its inmates.

Huggins, testimony revealed Monday, was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and Type II diabetes.

The family is seeking unspecified damages.

Shelia Clark, a nurse at the hospital at the time Huggins was first seen about 9:15 p.m. on Dec. 23, testified under questioning by plaintiff attorney Edward Bell that there was nothing about her patient's condition that made her think he should not be discharged.

She said Huggins arrived that day by ambulance from his Meehan Street home at the urging of his family, who did not accompany him.

She also testified that Dr. Muniz ordered a "battery" of tests on Huggins that showed he had elevated blood sugar and potassium levels, for which he was given medication. Some doctors say a normal blood sugar level is between 80 and 120. Huggins' level had reached more than 250.

As Huggins was discharged, he was ordered to take his medication and go to the family clinic following the holidays.

"I don't recall thinking he did not understand (his discharge instructions)," she said.

But rather than leaving, a security incident report said Huggins was later found standing by his bed, still wearing his hospital gown, with a "decrepit" look on his face.

Clark said he didn't say a word about not having anywhere to go or a way to get home, but when Huggins was told to leave he looked up and said, "It's cold outside."

According to the security incident report, Huggins' home address was on his records, but the guards, after making arrangements, asked him about going to a homeless shelter.

"It was becoming quite apparent that the patient was suffering from a mental condition," the report stated.

Huggins reportedly walked off the property that night and was brought back in about 8:33 a.m. the next day, Dec. 24, after he was found wandering the streets.

The treating nurse, Julie Hancock, testified she did not look at Huggins' past records, but blood work and a mental-health consultation was ordered by Dr. Cushman.

Huggins, she said, was unable to sign a consent form for treatment, but Cushman prescribed him some psychiatric and diabetic medication and, after performing a full work-up on him, told him to return to the hospital if he had any other problems.

But Huggins, Hancock said, for an unknown reason refused to sign his discharge sheet, which didn't mention diabetes or psychiatric medication.

Hancock said when Cushman discharged Huggins, he was stable and his condition had improved.

However, records indicate that Huggins returned again that day, with the chief complaint that "I just don't feel well. It's a real mixed feeling. Can I be committed?"

Huggins told the triage nurse, Cheryl Windham, that he had walked home and the people there laughed at him, so he walked back to the hospital.

Nurse Pat Spencer, who treated Huggins on the second visit, said Dr. Alexander wrote nothing in Huggins' history or medical records but prescribed him a shot for anxiety, which he refused.

However, under questioning by defense attorney S. Jahue Moore, Spencer said in Alexander's typed notes he did mention his patient was acting "somewhat bizarrely" and that Huggins would not speak to him.

Spencer said she did not look at Huggins' visitation history to the hospital.

Huggins, who seemed alert and oriented, was discharged about five hours later, she said, with instructions to continue taking his prescribed medication and to go to his mental-health appointment on Dec. 27.

Huggins was arrested at 11 a.m. on Dec. 25 after he reportedly took off his pants twice in the waiting room. He had not been seen by doctors that day. He was found dead in his cell about 2:25 a.m. Dec. 27.

The trial is expected to continue today at the Sumter County Courthouse before 3rd Circuit Judge Howard P. King.

Contact Staff Writer Crystal Owens at cowens@theitem.com or 803-774-1270.