A former nurse at the La Plata County Jail has sued the jail’s health care contractor alleging the company retaliated after she raised concerns about violations of public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Allison Mitchell and Durango law office Albrechta & Albrechta filed a federal lawsuit in January alleging that Tennessee-based Southern Health Partners forced her to resign after her complaints that the company was not following public health guidelines, and in doing so violated Colorado’s public health whistleblower law.
“I was scared to speak up, but I knew I had to say something in order to protect the incarcerated patients that I was hired to serve,” Mitchell said in a news release.
The lawsuit paints a troubling picture of Southern Health Partners’ La Plata County Jail staff and the corporation’s inaction during the pandemic.
According to the lawsuit, medical providers with Southern Health Partners refused to wear masks while at work at the jail during summer 2020 before vaccinations were available.
At the time, statewide public health orders required that anyone working in critical businesses such as jails wear a mask.
When Mitchell approached her supervisor about the lack of mask wearing, she was told the company did not require mask wearing in the office so long as they remained socially distanced, and that as contract employees with Southern Health Partners, they were not required to follow jail policy or public health guidelines for mask wearing.
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