Jefferson County settles lawsuit with jail inmate who blinded himself

FAIRFIELD – Jefferson County has agreed to pay a settlement with a man who blinded himself while being held at the county jail.

James Bingham, 39, of Muscatine, filed a lawsuit against three entities including Jefferson County, Jefferson County Health Center, and Advanced Correctional Healthcare, arguing that they failed to give him the appropriate mental health care he warranted before this incident in which he blinded himself in the Jefferson County Jail on March 7, 2019.

Jefferson County agreed to pay Bingham $600,000 to settle the lawsuit, though he is continuing his litigation against both Jefferson County Health Center and Advanced Correctional Healthcare.

According to the lawsuit, Bingham was arrested on a charge of arson on Jan. 6, 2019 and booked into the Jefferson County Jail. Jail staff were made aware that Bingham had a “long and extensive mental health history, including previous attempts at self-harm.” Bingham remained at the jail for a few months until March 7, 2019.

On March 6, 2019, Bingham swallowed a spork (combination of spoon and fork) and had to be taken to the JCHC emergency room. Medical staff removed the spork, and Bingham was taken back to the jail.

Bingham’s attorney, Martin Diaz of Martin Diaz Law Firm in Iowa City, argues the defendants did not properly care for Bingham during this time because, despite Bingham having made attempts at self-harm at the jail even before March 6, no mental health assessment was performed on Bingham at the emergency room, nor was he referred to a mental health facility. The lawsuit states that Bingham was in the ER for one hour, and his consultation with the ER physician lasted five minutes.

The following morning on March 7, 2019, Bingham used his hands to damage his own eyes so badly that he blinded himself in both eyes. Diaz argues that jail staff, JCHC medical staff, and the jail nurse who was both an agent of the county and an employee of Advanced Correctional Healthcare, were negligent in failing to refer Bingham for a mental health evaluation and to take reasonable care to protect him from self-harm.

Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding said the settlement the county reached with Bingham was approved by the county’s insurance provide called Iowa Communities Assurance Pool, which will pay Bingham $600,000. Moulding said he believes the county would have prevailed had this case gone to trial, but there was some risk it could lose.

“When Mr. Bingham took out both eyeballs, he eliminated his ability to work, and this has substantially impacted his own quality of life,” Moulding said. “It’s possible that, given those facts and a bad turn of the jury, we could have come back with a substantially higher liability figure [than $600,000].”

Moulding said that, as far as he knew, Bingham later received serves from the Iowa School of the Blind.

The Union also reached out to Bingham’s attorney Martin Diaz with a list of questions about the litigation.

UNION: In my reading of the case file, it appears that all of the injuries that Mr. Bingham suffered were ones he inflicted upon himself, is that correct?

DIAZ: Yes, Mr. Bingham suffered from schizophrenia. His mental illness places him at risk for self-harm, often due to hallucinations or delusions.

UNION: Mr. Bingham charges the three defendants with failing to provide appropriate mental health monitoring and treatment. Is there reason to believe Mr. Bingham would not have blinded himself had he received such treatment?

DIAZ: Yes, there was and is testimony from a forensic psychiatrist (who for most of his career took care of individuals like Mr. Bingham in an institutional setting). He testified that more likely than not appropriate mental health referral and treatment would have avoided the injuries inflicted by Mr. Bingham’s mental illness.

UNION: Did Mr. Bingham indicate a desire to blind himself with his own hands before the morning of March 7, 2019?

DIAZ: That's difficult to answer. Certainly, not before he was taken to the emergency room. Once he returned to the jail, the staff had him on 15-minute checks, but the checks were not appropriate as he was often seen with a blanket over his head and therefore you could not see what he was doing or saying. No steps were taken to make sure that you could see what he was doing.

UNION: Are you arguing that Mr. Bingham's behavior on March 6, 2019 when he swallowed the spork should have warranted being placed in a physical restraint such as a straitjacket?

DIAZ: Our principal argument is that his bizarre behavior to include swallowing a spork, becoming non-communicative, urinating in his bed, inappropriately touching himself, and growling at staff reflected a significant change in his prior behavior and was a clear indicator that he was experiencing a psychotic episode in an individual with a known history of schizophrenia. Once that occurs, he needs mental health treatment which was not available both in the jail and at the emergency room. He was an appropriate candidate to send to a specialty facility where they can monitor him on a one-to-one basis. Whether that would have included some form of restraint, would have been up to the particular facility but the standard of care would have expected that they would have taken steps to prevent him from self-harm, including preventing self-enucleation, a rare but known outcome of psychotic episodes.

UNION: Was there a way to protect Mr. Bingham from himself short of being placed in a straitjacket?

DIAZ: In addition to one-to-one monitoring, there are medications available to deal with his agitation and anxiety on a stat basis and appropriate follow up medication to control his mental illnesses. One of the things that we try to teach is that schizophrenia is a treatable disease, that requires a dedicated effort to find the appropriate medications, with appropriate monitoring until you can get to that set of medications that works for a particular patient. The fact that Mr. Bingham has done well with his mental illness since this incident reflects that with proper mental health treatment, he can live a productive life. I know this firsthand because I had an employee with schizophrenia who worked for me for 19 years and was a great employee. The key is to treat mental illness like we treat other medical conditions. As I've indicated before, our society places a significant stigma on mental illness, and we need to get past that if we're going to be able to help people lead productive lives.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com