https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... sclerosis/
A Washington state inmate with multiple sclerosis who was four times denied nonaddictive nerve-pain medication by prison staff has been awarded $549,000 by a federal jury in Tacoma.
The jury last week found that three prison medical staffers showed “deliberate indifference” to Etienne Choquette’s pain and medical needs when they refused to allow him medication that was prescribed to him by a neurologist.
Choquette was awarded $149,000 in compensatory damages for violation of his Eighth Amendment rights and $400,000 in punitive damages.
“The jury sent a strong message to the DOC (Department of Corrections) and its officials that they must treat the prisoners under their care with basic human dignity,” said Jesse Wing, one of Choquette’s attorneys.
“The defendants repeatedly denied our client a simple, generic medication for almost five months when they knew their decisions would cause him terrible nerve pain. These state officials thought no one would care. But the jury did, and it found their behavior cruel, in violation of the Bill of Rights,” Wing said.