Victim advocate groups have come out in support of a woman who filed a federal lawsuit in December against the Cole County Sheriff's Department over medical care she received while in jail.
Sentoria McMillon filed a civil rights lawsuit against Cole County Sheriff Greg White on Dec. 1 and has demanded the case be heard by a jury.
In the past week, groups such as Citizens for Criminal Justice have come out in support of McMillon's cause.
The lawsuit claims McMillion, who was a pregnant pre-trial detainee while in jail, was denied basic access to health care that could have saved the life of her unborn child.
McMillon has also sued the for-profit medical contractor used at the jail, Advanced Correctional Healthcare (ACH), the ACH doctor and the licensed practical nurse working at the jail.
The lawsuit alleges deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, wrongful death and medical malpractice.
ACH denies all of the allegations made in McMillon's complaint.
Just weeks before McMillon's due date, she suffered abdominal pain while incarcerated at the Cole County Jail but was denied access to a doctor for more than a week. She was eventually released on her own recognizance the night before she was scheduled to see a physician.
McMillon was taken to the emergency room, where doctors induced labor and found her unborn child had died days earlier. The dead body decayed inside her.
Had the defendants followed appropriate protocol or policy, and demonstrated simple humanity toward a pregnant inmate in distress by allowing her to see a physician, the lawsuit argues, "Doctors could have properly monitored [her] pregnancy and, if necessary, induced labor in order to provide life-saving care for [her] unborn child."
Citizens for Criminal Justice noted this was not the first time ACH had faced allegations of medical negligence, saying the company has been named in similar lawsuits alleging inmates were injured or died due to lack of appropriate medical care in county jails across the Midwest.
Attorney Michael Berry is representing the county in this case. He said they are currently in the discovery mode, and no trial date has been set.
"We are looking into all the accusations that have been made," Berry said. "There's just some things I just can't comment on at this point. I can say the company hired the medical company (ACH) to handle and provide advice on medical issues in the jail. The county handles custodial issues in the jail. When we have issues rising to medical attention it goes to ACH. Our people don't have the medical expertise."