Gillman v. City of Troy, 2025 WL 262331 (6th Cir. 2025)
In Michigan, Megan Miller was arrested for a parole violation and booked into the City of Troy’s pretrial detention facility. When she was booked, she told detention staff she had used heroin an hour before. Miller told a police officer she had been using heroin “heavily” and expected to go into withdrawal in jail. Miller was placed in a holding cell and over the next two and a half days, she vomited continually.
On the third day, Police Service Aid Julie Green-Hernandez reviewed booking forms at the beginning of her shift. According to court documents, “PSAs like Green-Hernandez are tasked with monitoring pretrial detainees, performing routine cell checks, and reporting anything unusual to the on-duty police officer supervising them.” Green-Hernandez noticed Miller’s form indicated the detainee was going through heroin withdrawal. Staff members checked Miller at “fairly regular intervals” on the morning of her third day of incarceration. Green-Hernandez went to Miller’s cell three times between 12:40 p.m. and 1:00 p.m., noticing more vomit in the cell and speaking with Miller each time. The jailer later testified she offered Miller medical attention, but Miller declined. The jailer believed that, vomiting aside, Miller appeared healthy and showed no obvious signs of physical distress. Another jailer noted she could see Miller’s foot move when she looked at Miller’s cell camera at either 2:20 p.m. or 3:04 p.m.
At 3:20 p.m., Green-Hernandez went to Miller’s cell and found her unconscious and unresponsive in her cell. Miller was pronounced dead shortly after. Miller’s husband sued, claiming jail staff violated Miller’s Fourteenth Amendment right to receive adequate medical care while in custody as a pretrial detainee. The plaintiff also asserted a state law claim for gross negligence.
The trial court denied Green-Hernandez’s motion for summary judgment. The court said it was undisputed the PSAs had been aware that Miller was continually vomiting. The judge concluded the continual vomiting was itself an objectively serious medical need. The judge ruled that Green-Hernandez was not entitled to qualified immunity because there were factual disputes regarding whether she was deliberately indifferent to Miller’s serious medical needs and whether her conduct amounted to gross negligence under state law. Green-Hernandez appealed.
The appellate court dismissed the appeal issue of qualified immunity because there were underlying factual disputes rather than purely legal questions. However, the court reversed the trial court’s denial of state law governmental immunity. The court of appeals held that, while Green-Hernandez’s conduct could be considered grossly negligent, it was not the single most proximate cause of Miller’s death. Miller’s ingestion of fentanyl was the most immediate, efficient and direct cause of her death. The appellate court sent the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
You’re not a doctor, though maybe you could play one on television. We have six in my family — they’ve got the brains. One of the themes that we’ve repeated over more than 25 years of writing Xiphos is to rely on medical professionals for medical conditions. Wake up the guys who took the other civil service test. Everyone loves firefighter/paramedics, especially those who are in your custody and have any medical problem beyond a hangnail. When someone tells you they’re going into withdrawal and just used a dangerous drug, do your best to get them somewhere else, like a hospital, or at the very least get medical staff involved.
