NaphCare, the company contracted to provide medical services to patients in the Gwinnett County Jail is facing a punitive damages lawsuit for negligent care that led to the death of 23-year-old Jordan Davidson. Jordan died in January 2022 as a result of complications stemming from quadriplegia caused by the delayed diagnosis of a tumor on his spine.

The photo above depicts Jordan's step-father, Willie Baugh, feeding him in September 2021.  

The lawsuit states: “As a result of the negligence of NaphCare and its staff at Gwinnett County Jail, Jordan Davidson’s tumor and the spinal cord compression it caused went undiagnosed and were allowed to progress until it was too late to prevent him from suffering permanent neurological damage and quadriplegia.”

The lawsuit details a timeline spanning from January 6, 2021 to June 4, 2021, during which Jordan made multiple pleas for help to Naphcare personnel to address increasingly serious symptoms. The lawsuit claims NaphCare and its healthcare providers were negligent “ … by failing to provide adequate and timely care to Jordan over the course of 62 days, during which he had complaints of loss of motor skills, pain in his neck, back, knee, side, inability to walk, inability to lift his arms up, difficulty swallowing, blood in his urine and bowel movements, and loss of bowel control.”

Considering the nature of Jordan’s symptoms, the lawsuit claims that “Defendant’s repeated failures to perform an adequate neurologic examination, recognize the significance of Jordan Davidson’s neurological complaints, and refer him for imaging studies and specialist care constitute breaches of the standard of care and are negligence.”

Attorney Jim Myers of Atlanta-based law firm Clay, Taulbee, Myers represents Jordan’s family. Jim says, “Filing this lawsuit allows us to demand answers from NaphCare. The family wants to know how it is possible that NaphCare’s medical providers missed so many opportunities to identify Jordan’s condition before it progressed to the point that it caused quadriplegia.”

NaphCare is contracted to provide medical care for inmates in jails and prisons across the country and has faced numerous lawsuits. NaphCare has recently faced wrongful death lawsuits in Oregon, Washington, and Ohio. Just this year, NaphCare was hit with a lawsuit for a death in Fulton County Jail, and in April, NaphCare faced a lawsuit for a death in the Gwinnett County Jail – the very jail where Jordan Davidson suffered.

In January, a jury struck NaphCare with a $27 million verdict for a wrongful death in Spokane County Jail. According to news reports, NaphCare increased staffing at the jail following the verdict. Attorney Jim Myers says that verdict provides evidence that lawsuits can force companies to make improvements. Jim says, “Ultimately, it is up to the families of victims to stand up and hold for-profit companies like NaphCare accountable in court when they fail to meet the standard of care for the people they serve in our community.”