Mother sues Bucks jailers for daughter's death
The mother of a woman who died from heroin withdrawal in the Bucks County Correctional Facility in 2013 filed a wrongful death suit in federal court last week, accusing county officials of failing to provide adequate detoxification treatment to her daughter before she died.
The mother of a woman who died from heroin withdrawal in the Bucks County Correctional Facility in 2013 filed a wrongful death suit in federal court last week, accusing county officials of failing to provide adequate detoxification treatment to her daughter before she died.
Loretta Lopez, mother of Vallia Valene Karaharisis, said in court papers that prison officials knew about her daughter's heavy heroin usage but "took no action to assess or monitor" her during her short stint in custody.
Karaharisis was jailed on Sept. 26, 2013 for an alleged probation violation and found dead in her cell three days later, according to the suit. An autopsy determined she died due to heroin withdrawal, the suit said.
In her filing, Lopez claims that Karaharisis told jail workers about her habit of injecting up to 20 bags of heroin per day. But officials showed "deliberate indifference" to her plight, the suit said, and did not monitor her or provide her adequate detoxification treatment.
Six months after Karaharisis' death, another woman, Marlene Yarnall, 49, of Bensalem, also died in the jail. Officials said at the time that Yarnall, who was also in a detoxification program, died from cardiac complications.
Chris Edwards, a county spokesperson, said officials could not comment on Lopez's suit.
She is seeking compensatory damages, although no amount is specified.
- Chris Palmer
