Aug. 28—A former behavioral health clinician claims inmates at Westmoreland County Prison received substandard mental health care and that she was fired when she reported her allegations to the facility's private medical provider.
In a whistleblower lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, Carla Rhodes, a licensed social worker, says she was retaliated against after making allegations of fraud, waste and insufficient medical care.
Rhodes claims her employer, PrimeCare Medical Inc. of Harrisburg, relied upon an unlicensed mental health professional to diagnose and prescribe treatments for inmates as part of what she described as sporadic remote meetings with patients, resulting in insufficient and improper care.
"Instead of taking action to remedy the serious patient safety and compliance issues Ms. Rhodes identified, PrimeCare Medical chose to terminate her employment in retaliation for her good-faith reports," she claims in the lawsuit.
Rhodes said she was hired as mental health clinician in August 2022. PrimeCare Medical started work at the county jail in September. Commissioners a month earlier inked a five-year, $20.9 million deal with the company to provide medical services at the jail, with a focus on improved mental health care for inmates.
Rhodes, in her lawsuit, says she was at times the only mental health clinician on duty at the jail and that the company relied on a rotation of other "mid-level" providers to assess and treat inmates remotely,...
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