An attorney for a state prison inmate who sought a federal judge's help to obtain proper medical care to prevent his transplanted kidney from failing has dropped the case, citing the transfer of the prisoner to a unit where he can receive better health care.
Attorney John Wesley Hall of Little Rock filed a motion to dismiss the case, at least temporarily, on Friday. He had filed a lawsuit May 19 on behalf of Alexander Gilliana, 22, seeking an injunction to force the prison and its contract medical provider, Correct Care Solutions, to properly administer Gilliana's medication.
At a May 28 hearing, Gilliana told U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson that he had been receiving the medicine on a more timely basis since Hall filed the lawsuit.
Because that made the injunction request moot, Wilson denied it, but he refused to dismiss the lawsuit altogether, calling Gilliana's situation "an extremely serious matter."
Wilson said he planned to hold another hearing on the merits of the case, which sought not only the injunction, but compensatory and punitive damages, as well.
After hearing testimony from Gilliana, Wilson said he had "serious doubts" that the inmate always received his anti-rejection medicine, which he needs on a regular schedule that conflicted with scheduled "pill calls" at the Varner Unit.
Gilliana, of Hot Springs, was imprisoned in January and is eligible for parole in September on a conviction for possessing a firearm on or near school property,
He lost both kidneys to disease at age 6 and was on dialysis until he had a kidney transplant at age 12. In the 10 years since, he said, he had taken his medication every 12 hours, as directed, until going to prison.
He said he initially went without the medication for seven days, then had trouble getting the correct dosage and, until the lawsuit was filed, received the medicine "maybe half the time." He said he also was denied blood draws that his doctors said were needed to monitor his blood levels.
Correct Care and the state argued that the case should be dismissed because Gilliana didn't exhaust his administrative remedies before turning to federal court.
Gilliana acknowledged he didn't fully understand the grievance process and other procedures he was supposed to follow to inform medical management about his problems. He also testified he was afraid that following the formal grievance process would take too long to get him the help he needed, so instead he called his grandfather, who in turn called the prison and demanded that Gilliana receive the life-saving medication.
On Friday, Hall said Gilliana has been moved from Varner to the Ouachita River Unit, where better health care is available, "thereby mooting any injunctive relief claim at Varner."
Hall said he believed the prison "did this in good faith, and not to defeat jurisdiction of the court."
Wilson later granted the motion without prejudice, which would allow the lawsuit to be refiled if the need arises.
Metro on 07/18/2015