Centre County agrees to $2.75 million settlement with man who left the county jail paralyzed
Centre County agreed Wednesday to pay a $2.75 million settlement to a man who alleged that ham-handed treatment at the county jail left him paralyzed from the upper torso down.
Most terms of the settlement reached in the lawsuit brought by David B. Rossman were not released. His attorney said the settlement reached with PrimeCare Medical — the jail’s contracted medical provider — is confidential, while the county agreed to settle for $2.75 million.
County Administrator John Franek Jr. declined to share most details of the settlement and how it is set to be paid out. He wrote Thursday in an email to the Centre Daily Times that the county’s insurer contributed to a portion — but not all — of the settlement.
Between PrimeCare and the county, Rossman’s attorney said the payment is “sufficient enough to take care of his financial and medical needs for the rest of his life.”
The agreement came three months after Chief U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew Brann found a reasonable jury could conclude the medical care Rossman received during his stay at the Centre County Correctional Facility “does not pass constitutional muster.”
Rossman, 26, of Bellefonte, arrived at the county jail in October 2020, five days removed from a crash that required him to undergo emergency spinal surgery. He was jailed on an outstanding bench warrant.
He left in an ambulance. The hardware holding his fractured vertebrae came loose, rendering him a tetraplegic.
Attorney Bob Elion described the lawsuit in April 2021 as the “worst set of facts I’ve ever encountered in my life,” adding the care Rossman received was “almost beyond imagination.”
Rossman was ordered by his doctor to wear a brace and cervical collar at all times, except for when he was in the shower. Failing to heed those directions, Rossman was told, could lead to complications.
Rossman requested help from corrections officers with his braces on four consecutive days, but assistance was refused each time, Brann wrote in his January ruling.
At least two corrections officers declined to help citing “liability concerns,” Brann wrote. On another day, Rossman called for help but received no response.
“Liability concerns are not a valid reason to deny medical care,” Brann wrote.
Rossman later reported “excruciating pain” after returning to his cell from a meeting and an X-ray was immediately ordered. Two nurses and a corrections officer, Brann wrote, required Rossman to walk to a wheelchair from his bed unassisted. They also told him to go back into his cell to retrieve his shoes, causing more pain and numbness.
A jury, the judge wrote, could find the nurses acted with “deliberate indifference.” Their obdurate response to Rossman’s emergency condition is “precisely what the Constitution forbids,” Brann wrote.
PrimeCare has been named in dozens of federal lawsuits since 2021, many of which allege the company was negligent in providing care to people while they were incarcerated.
A Centre Hall woman sued the county and PrimeCare last month over what she described as “abhorrent” conditions and “shameful” actions by corrections and medical staff. A case management conference is scheduled for May 14.
Centre County’s commissioners approved a five-year contract with PrimeCare in 2021 at a rate of nearly $1.1 million for the first year. Annual increases were built into the agreement. The pact — as of the time it was signed — was set to expire Dec. 31, 2025.
The CDT filed a Right-to-Know request last month seeking copies of the county’s contracts with PrimeCare. A response is due by the end of April.
