Summit County, Ohio to pay $1.1M to settle jail suicide wrongful death lawsuit – Corrections1

By Adam Ferrise
cleveland.com
AKRON, Ohio — The mother of a Stow man who died by suicide in the Summit County Jail after repeatedly asking for mental health treatment has settled her wrongful death lawsuit for more than $1 million.
Summit County agreed to pay the estate of Patrick Butcher $770,500, while Summit Psychological Associates, the company that provides mental healthcare at the jail, agreed to pay $375,000, according to probate court records.
The settlement requires approval from Summit County Probate Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer before it becomes final.
Summit County and the sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer also sought comment from Summit Psychological Associates and its attorneys.
Butcher, 31, died in October 2020 after taking his own life in a solitary confinement cell. His lawsuit said he repeatedly sought mental health treatment and medication during his three months in jail but received little or inadequate care before his death.
A mechanic and father of a young child, Butcher struggled after his wife prematurely delivered stillborn identical twin girls in 2017, according to the lawsuit. He later abused alcohol, had thoughts of self-harm and hallucinated, according to court records. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression and doctors prescribed medication for anxiety and bipolar disorder.
His wife filed for divorce in March 2020 . Butcher, who had no prior criminal record, was arrested several times that year on charges including violating protection orders, burglary at his estranged wife’s home and methamphetamine possession.
After being booked into the jail in March and again in June, Butcher told jail officials about his mental illness and the medications he needed. Despite repeated requests, he saw psychiatrists only a handful of times and struggled to obtain his prescriptions, the lawsuit said.
He wrote to his mother in June describing his severe depression. In July, doctors discontinued one of his medications after accusing him of hoarding pills, which he denied. He repeatedly requested the medication, warning in one request that removing it “could lead to my death.”
Days after his divorce became final and his grandmother died, Butcher told corrections officers he was having suicidal thoughts and feared his cellmate would attack him because he had “snitched” on another gang member, according to the lawsuit. Deputies ordered him back into the cell, where the cellmate assaulted him later that night.
Deputies ordered him into solitary confinement for five days as punishment over the fight. Butcher told officers he feared he might kill himself if placed in an isolated cell, court records say. Jail officials never placed him on suicide watch.
The next day, a Summit Psychological Associates intern evaluated him and described his depression as mild and his anxiety as moderate.
Soon afterward, Butcher covered his cell window with toilet paper and took his own life with a bedsheet. A note found in his cell said he had warned deputies he would be attacked.
“I also have pleaded with mental health [workers] to see me because my bipolar is so bad, but they haven’t helped me out,” the note said.
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