January 14, 2006

Jury Awards Inmate $825,000
Corrections Ruled At Fault In Incident

By Joe Perry
Item Staff Writer
jperry@theitem.com 

A Clarendon County jury awarded $825,000 in damages against the state Department of Corrections on Tuesday in a lawsuit involving allegations of negligent medical care of a 29-year-old former inmate of the Turbeville Correctional Institution.

Jason Steven Bynum, who is currently incarcerated at Ridgeland Correctional Institution, was sentenced to eight years in prison for a second-degree burglary charge in October 2001. Bynum was diagnosed with a serious mouth infection on Jan. 9, 2002, while in the custody of Turbeville Correctional Institution, according to his attorney, Georgetown-based J. Edward Bell III, who also has a Sumter office.

Bell said the infection began as an abscessed tooth and gradually worsened to a condition known as Ludwig’s Angina, which without immediate medical care can lead to death by suffocation due to a swelling of the throat. Bynum’s condition was noted by the nurses, but ignored by prison management and doctors, Bell said.

“The Ludwig’s Angina progressed to where he had pleural effusion — one of his lungs filled up to 90 percent with pus. It was so bad, that the nurses were alerting the doctor this man needed to be in the hospital multiple times and the (prison) doctor refused,” Bell said. “Finally they convinced the doctor it was time to go and it was an emergency. Within hours of getting to Tuomey (Regional Medical Center) they rushed him to emergency surgery. The doctors at Tuomey said they performed heroic measures to keep this man alive. ... He was close to death ... somebody said he was hours away from death.”

According to Bell, Bynum suffered permanent injuries from the ordeal.

“He has permanent injuries to his neck and lungs,” Bell said. “His twelfth cranial nerve is permanently damaged. ... He has a speech impediment. ... He has problems eating and drinking — he has problems with his esophagus, he has restricted motion in his neck. He has scarring on his neck and chest and back from all the surgeries.”

Bell said Bynum will get some reconstructive surgery upon his projected release in June from the Ridgeland facility.

Sandy Senn, whose Charleston law firm, Senn, McDonald and Leinbach, represented the Department of Corrections, said, “It certainly did not turn out how we thought it would, but the jury has spoken.”

In lieu of an appeal, she said, “I think what we’re going to do, most likely, is ask the judge to make Mr. Bynum pay a portion of his medical bills since the jury determined he was 40 percent at fault for his own health care.” That amount, she said, was $238,000.


Contact Staff Writer Joe Perry at jperry@theitem.com or 803-774-1272.