Lawsuit alleges Newaygo County Jail, prison health providers failed to treat inmate’s MS

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The lawsuit was filed in federal court in late July, and Veltkamp’s lawyers are in the process of serving the complaint to Advanced Correctional Healthcare, the provider of jail medical care in Newaygo County, and VitalCore Health Strategies, the provider of jail medical care at Michigan Department of Corrections facilities, both named defendants.

Neither Advanced Correctional Healthcare nor VitalCore Health Strategies responded to multiple requests for comment from the Michigan Advance.

MDOC is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

Newaygo County Administrator Christopher Wren, responding to a request for comment, said that the county does not comment on open lawsuits or litigation matters, but that they are aware of the filing.

The alleges that Veltkamp’s MS, which is a chronic neurological disorder in which lesions develop on the brain, was able to progress so severely because Veltkamp was denied adequate healthcare while incarcerated, both at the Newaygo County Jail and at a series of state-level facilities that he was transferred between.

“I’m dying in here without proper help … please help me,” Veltkamp wrote in what is known as a kite, a term for an official internal request form submitted to prison administrators, in December 2023, while he was detained at the Central Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis, Mich, according to the lawsuit filing. 

He was first diagnosed with MS in September 2023 by a neurologist, who recommended he quickly be prescribed Ocrevus. By March 2024, the neurologist, who had repeatedly reached out to the different facilities where Veltkamp was incarcerated to arrange treatment, closed Veltkamp’s file.

“I have not had luck in reaching healthcare coordinator at facility,” the neurologist wrote, according to the lawsuit. “At this point, I am closing encounter and we will have to wait until patient is released to resume therapy.”

Veltkamp’s attorney, Lisa Esser-Weidenfelle, in an interview with the Advance, emphasized the progressive nature of Veltkamp’s MS.

“It’s one of those things that once you’re diagnosed, the goal is to stop it in its tracks. So this medication that the doctor, the neurologist, wanted him to get, Ocrevus, it’s an infusion treatment, and you get it every six months,” Esser-Weidenfeller said. “What it does is it stops the disease from progressing, it stops new lesions from forming on your brain. As these lesions form, they come with neurological deficits.”

Esser-Weidenfeller said that there was not a significant difference in the standard of care that Veltkamp received when he was in Newaygo County Jail versus state-level facilities that are run by MDOC.

“It was pretty consistent across the board with the same systematic ‘watch and wait’ approach with him, and almost, can we kick the can down the road on every front,” Esser-Weidenfeller said.

Despite the healthcare primarily being delegated to private companies, Esser-Weidenfeller said that the responsibility for the care of those incarcerated at facilities does fall, at least in part, on the institution — whether that be the county or the state.

“They have a non-delegable duty, a constitutional duty for the healthcare of the inmates and prisoners there that are in their jail,” she said. “They don’t get to wash their hands of that by contracting it away to a private healthcare corporation.”

The lawsuit also names multiple other defendants, who are individuals involved in healthcare at the various facilities in which Veltkamp was incarcerated. The complaint alleges those individuals either knew or should have known about Veltkamp’s “deteriorating condition and need for urgent treatment to prevent severe and permanent disabilities,” did not initiate proper or timely treatment of his MS, and “ignored his continuing complaints and deteriorating condition, resulting in permanent and severe disabilities.”

Esser-Weidenfeller further emphasized that those in jail or prison have no other options for receiving medical care and that they “completely, wholly rely on the state, these entities, the providers, and these private corporations to get the care they need.”

“We’re not asking for the best care, we’re not asking for exceptional care. But are we providing basic, ordinary care to our inmates?” she continued. “That is just not happening, and someone needs to take a closer look at the contracts that we’re giving these corporations. These are $100 million contracts in some instances. They should be accountable for providing basic care to an inmate.”