FORMER PRISON MEDICAL PROVIDER REMOVED FROM FEDERAL LAWSUIT

The former medical provider at the Westmoreland County Prison has been removed from a federal lawsuit that was filed by an inmate.  The Trib reports that Robert Frantz, formerly of Hempfield, claimed that he was not properly cared for and his rights against cruel and unusual punishment were violated when he was injured in a fight with another inmate on January 3rd of 2022.  He claimed that he was not monitored in a solitary confinement cell for at least 12 hours, and that caused a delay in his treatment.  According to the lawsuit, Frantz eventually wsa transferred to Westmoreland Hospital on Jan. 20, 2022 and diagnosed with multiple conditions, and was released from custody on March 3, first to a rehabilitation facility and later to a nursing home in Latrobe where he was bedridden and had no use of his legs, according to his lawyers.  Wexford, the health care provider, had been a part of the lawsuit, but a judge said there was insufficient evidence to convict the company.