A Miami healthcare company looking to renew its multimillion dollar contract to care for Broward’s jail inmates did not disclose in bid documents that it paid an $ 800,000 wrongful-death settlement earlier this year in Tampa.
Broward Sheriff’s Office procurement rules require bidders to disclose any malpractice cases filed against them or their employees in the past five years, and any pending litigation, judgments and settlements in the past three years.
Armor Correctional Health Services, the top-ranked bidder, sent a June 4 proposal to BSO that includes a 14-page list of 150 malpractice lawsuits. No mention is made of the case of Allen Daniel Hicks, who spent nearly 36 hours in custody in a Tampa jail without treatment for a stroke that ultimately killed him.
In a cover letter to BSO, Armor Chief Executive Officer Bruce A. Teal boasted that Armor had “zero (0) settlements in the last three (3) years.”
Not so.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) and Hillsborough Circuit Court records show Armor and the HCSO jointly agreed in January to pay a total of $ 1 million to settle claims made by Hicks’ estate. The deal, which included a $ 200,000 payout by HSCO, was approved Feb. 26 by a probate judge and reported by The Tampa Bay Times on July 6.
Hicks suffered “severe brain damage” while waiting for treatment, according to a Jan. 7 memo by HSCO’s lawyer that summarized a sworn statement by the Tampa General Hospital neurosurgeon who treated Hicks.
The “delay in medical care resulted in Mr. Hicks’ death, which could have been avoided had Mr. Hicks been sent to the emergency room,” the memo says.
A receiving doctor “was extremely critical of [...]