A Washington state man’s leg amputation has led to a massive negligence verdict against a county jail’s private health care provider.

A federal jury on Friday ordered NaphCare Inc. to pay $25 million to Javier Tapia, a Pierce County man whose foot turned black and gangrenous while in jail after weeks of untreated blood clotting.

NaphCare, based in Alabama, provides medical care to jails in 49 states, according to the company’s website. In 2022, NaphCare was ordered to pay $27 million to the family of a woman who died in Spokane County Jail.

The verdict paid to Tapia is two-fold: $5 million for physical and emotional damage and $20 million in punitive damages.

Court records show that the jury agreed with Tapia’s three principle arguments: that NaphCare relied on nurses to work beyond their skillset to treat inmates, relied on corrections deputies to monitor inmates’ health, and didn’t communicate with staff about Tapia as his condition worsened.

Those patterns amounted to violating Tapia’s constitutional right to adequate health care, said attorney Corinne Sebren.

“Every inmate in that jail is NaphCare’s patient, and they were only responding when they were being dragged to respond,” Sebren said.

In a statement, NaphCare told OPB it plans to file an appeal. Company officials “fundamentally disagree with the outcome,” a spokesperson said. “Despite the outcome of this case, we believe in the diligence and professionalism of our team.”

Pierce County, who was initially listed as a defendant, settled with Tapia for $1 million roughly a month before trial.

Tapia landed in Pierce County Jail in June 2018 for driving a stolen vehicle. According to the initial complaint, his first three months in jail awaiting trial were unremarkable.

In September, Tapia suddenly “began demonstrating signs of disordered thinking,” according to the filing. He reportedly complained of being unable to sleep, and was seen by corrections deputies struggling to get off his bunk.

Corrections deputies and the county staff began to note Tapia’s change. He was noted as “confused and non-verbal” during consultations with county staff. Yet no one ordered a physical examination, according to the complaint. Tapia was placed in a segregated cell.

While county employees — who don’t work for NaphCare — and corrections deputies documented Tapia’s deteriorating condition in NaphCare’s chart system, electronic logs showed the company’s medical team went 10 days without looking at the chart.

“This is really serious because at this point Javier had been placed in a segregated cell because of his mental status changes,” Sebren said. “In a segregated cell, the national standard is for medical to be checking on these people and certainly to be communicating very closely, and working in an integrative way with any other corrections officers or jail staff.”

A corrections deputy later noticed Tapia’s toes had turned black, according to court records. On Sept. 30, Tapia was sent to Tacoma General Hospital.

After two weeks at the hospital, doctors ruled that Tapia’s left foot was “not salvageable” according to court records. They amputated his leg below the knee.

NaphCare is the latest health care provider in jails to make headlines in recent months. In October, a federal judge ruled that the largest correctional health care provider in Oregon and Washington, Wellpath, had wrongfully deleted emails discussing in-custody deaths.

A month later, Wellpath filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/04/07/pierce-county-jail-tacoma-washington-lawsuit-leg-amputation/