A Michigan jail nurse could go to prison after being accused as responsible for the suicide of an inmate in northern Michigan in 2013. But Donna Sigler files federal appeals for the court to reverse the decision.
Sigler is seen as responsible for the death of Shane Bays who hanged himself in the Montmorency County jail. The inmate was locked up without bond for driving with a suspended license. Bays had many mental and emotional disorders and it involved many risks.
Donna did not take the right steps to avoid this tragic death. People with emotional problems need a special treatment because they have a high level of risk.
Robert Cleland, Federal Judge, states that others in the case have immunity in the civil lawsuit, but this is not the case of Donna Sigler. The judge says that there's evidence that the jail nurse knew that Bays needed immediate treatment because he was a man with mental problems. The judge declares that a jury should look at the case. This is possible that Donna will have to go to jail because of her lack of responsibility, as a nurse she had to be of far more careful.
The 28-year-old Bays had a lot of mental problems. He was a sick person. Among his mental problems included paranoia, anxiety, severe rage and voices. Bays told the jail that he had been in the hospital a few weeks earlier. Negligence in a jail is simply unacceptable, the tragic death of Bays could have been avoided if the right steps had been taken.