Gwinnett County jail death caused by inadequate medical care, lawsuit claims

April 18th, 2023

The family of a man who died in a jail in Atlanta’s suburbs said his death could have been prevented if he had received proper medical attention for an ulcer that caused internal bleeding.

Deion Strayhon’s family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against NaphCare Inc., a private company contracted to provide medical care at the Gwinnett County Jail, as well as several doctors and nurses who treated Strayhon.

The lawsuit filed Friday says Strayhon, 26, repeatedly complained of stomach pain, vomiting, constipation and being unable to eat from March 23, 2021, until he was found dead in his cell on April 16, 2021. None of the doctors or nurses who treated him tried to find the cause of his pain, the lawsuit alleges.

An autopsy showed that Strayhon died from bleeding caused by a large ulcer in his small intestine that “eroded into a blood vessel, causing bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract,” the lawsuit says.

NaphCare did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment submitted through its website. The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, which is not named as a defendant, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

The lawsuit was filed by Strayhon’s mother, Sherry Strayhon, and Lakea Mack, Strayhon’s girlfriend and the mother of his daughter who was born shortly after his death.