Lawsuit says lack of treatment at Allegheny County Jail led to leg amputation

A man is suing Allegheny County Jail and medical officials alleging that their failure to treat a wound on his heel while he was incarcerated there led to him having his right leg amputated below the knee.

Clayton McCray, 27, is suing the county, the jail’s medical director and staffers — including former Chief Deputy Warden Laura Williams, who left earlier this year to become the warden at Delaware County’s jail.

The lawsuit includes claims for malpractice and alleges that jail staff held McCray in inhumane conditions. It also alleges that Williams, who was the chief deputy warden for health care services, was not qualified for that position, having served previously as a drug and alcohol counselor.

Amie Downs, a spokeswoman for the county, said she could not comment on pending litigation.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court, McCray was shot in the spine in 2011 and that led to drop foot, which causes numbness and made him drag his right foot. The condition, the complaint said, made him vulnerable to developing ulcers on his right foot, which could worsen into a severe bone infection.

In 2018, while incarcerated in two different state prisons, McCray developed an ulcer on his foot that was successfully treated, the lawsuit said. As late as September 2019, the complaint said, McCray was able to play basketball and exercise in a gym.

On Sept. 20, 2019, the health service administrator at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette sent a letter to Allegheny County Jail staff to notify them what medical devices McCray needed. Despite that, the lawsuit said, ACJ staff confiscated his orthotic shoe and brace.

“ACJ staff often prohibited McCray from using his cane, crutches and wheelchair inside his cell, forcing him to hop on one foot or crawl to his cell door to retrieve his meals and medications,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges that jail staff did not let McCray, who was being held on a probation violation, to use his assistive devices and refused to provide him a handicapped-accessible cell. Staffers also failed to provide him with a shower chair when he could no longer put any pressure on his right foot and they failed to provide him adequate wound care, debridement and antibiotics, the complaint said.

Their lack of proper care, the complaint said, led to a serious bone infection. The lawsuit said that McCray ultimately was diagnosed with a staph infection and sepsis.

“Defendants’ misconduct and malpractice caused McCray to needlessly suffer,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said that jail medical staff initially administered his wound care properly.

“But by December 2019 and subsequently, ACJ medical staff routinely changed McCray’s dressing in a dirty cell or refused to apply his wound care altogether. On several occasions, a staff member dropped off wound care supplies, which were sometimes missing medicated solution or gauze, and told McCray that if he wanted his wound cleaned and disinfected, then he would have to do it himself without gloves in his unsanitary cell,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit also alleges that jail health care staff failed to properly manage McCray’s pain and failed to provide adequate nutrition, causing him to lose more than 20 pounds in less than six months — in part because he was in so much pain that he was unable to retrieve his meal trays.

McCray also was held in solitary confinement on multiple occasions without proper care or accommodations, the lawsuit said.

Once jail medical staff confirmed his infection, the lawsuit said, McCray was prescribed antibiotics but not for the full duration, and often for just two to four days.

The complaint alleged that a wound care physician from Allegheny General Hospital told jail medical staff in June 2020 that McCray’s treatment and antibiotic regiment were inadequate and instructed them to give him a full course of antibiotics. The jail staff did not do that, instead giving him an antibiotic of only two days instead of the 14 recommended, the lawsuit said.

McCray was in agony, the complaint said. It was then that a physician’s assistant at the jail noticed McCray’s skin was dark black-green and reeked of a foul odor. She recommended a different course of antibiotics.

A culture taken on July 4, 2020, showed he was septic and had a strep infection.

McCray’s leg was amputated at AGH on Sept. 10, 2020. He was released back to the jail six days later and remained there until October.

During that time, the lawsuit alleges that he did not receive adequate pain management or regular physical therapy. On Sept. 30, 2020, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drug charge and was sentenced to six months of probation.