The parents of Bradley S. Hensley, a former inmate at the Henry County Adult Detention Center, filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging their son died while an inmate in 2022 due to negligence.
The two count, 24-page suit, was filed by Robert and Robin Hensley on April 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. As administrators of their son’s estate, Hensley’s parents are asking for a jury trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages, with the amount to be determined at trial, as well as attorney fees and costs.
The first count of the filing alleges state law negligence/gross negligence/willful and wanton negligence and wrongful death. The second count alleges a Fourteenth Amendment Violation, or in the alternative, an Eighth Amendment Violation.
The suit states that on Aug. 2, 2022, Brad Hensley, 42, entered the Henry County Adult Detention Center (HCADC) as a pretrial detainee on charges of petty larceny and possession of burglary tools.
Upon entry, he “immediately and promptly informed defendants of a serious, potentially fatal adrenal disorder and strict regimen of prescribed medications” that he needed to take daily to prevent a life-threatening, adrenal crisis, the filing alleged.
Brad Hensley had been diagnosed with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), also known as “salt wasting” disorder, according to the filing. The National Institute of Health describes the condition as a hereditary disorder of the adrenal glands, which produce hormones that affect metabolism, blood sugar regulation, blood pressure and other essential functions, according to online information.
Regular doses of Prednisone and Fludrocortisone are used to manage the condition, according to the lawsuit, which stated that Hensley was required to take the prescribed medications twice every day.
Although Hensley had explained his condition during his intake at the center, the suit alleges that his medications were delayed and denied, and he “became sick with adrenal crisis and attendant physiological distress, could not eat, and decompensated into plain helplessness and deathly illness.
“Despite pleas by Brad, his family, fellow detainees, and others,” the filing alleges that the defendants “ignored his distress and refused him the necessary medication and eventual emergent care that he needed,” as well as refusing “the assessments, monitoring, and care required by the standards of care and their own protocols.
“Even worse, one or more of them fabricated false records to conceal the breaches, and they failed to keep other contemporaneous records of Brad’s medical condition and events while he was a pretrial detainee,” the lawsuit alleges. “As a result of multiple breaches of their duties” Brad Hensley died “a predictable, painful, but easily preventable death in the jail” on August 6, 2022.
Retired Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry, Sheriff’s Lt. Dean Shumate, and Wellpath, LLC, are named as defendants, along with eight healthcare workers – Sarah Eves, PA, Christopher Adkins, RN, Deborah Damron, LPN, Megan Adkins, RN, Raven Martin LNA, Jacqueline Hall, LNA, Kassie Vanhousen, RN and Sierra Glenn, LNA. The center contracts with Wellpath to provide medical care to inmates.
Damron was indicted by a Henry County grand jury on March 20, 2023, on one count of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the incident. She was arrested April 5, according to Henry County Circuit Court records. Her trial date is expected to be set on May 28.
