Wrongful Death Settlement

Staunton, VA: (Dec-09-07) The family of John McCloskey brought wrongful death charges against Rockbridge County, after the teenager suffered from internal injuries that eventually took his life. The lawsuit stated that McCloskey died from injuries he sustained in 1994 at Western State Hospital in Staunton. His condition was reportedly so severe, that doctors first thought he had been sodomized with a broomstick. Documents reveal that on the evening of Dec. 17, 1994, McCloskey was involuntarily committed to Western State. The 18-year-old manic depressive had been arrested two days earlier on charges of disorderly conduct and indecent exposure outside a Rockbridge County convenience store where he tried to buy a six-pack of beer. Less than 24 hours later, McCloskey was rushed to the hospital. His colon was punctured; his liver was lacerated; his insides were so torn up he was vomiting his own feces. The family claimed that for 14 months, McCloskey lapsed into and out of consciousness at the University of Virginia Medical Center. He was never lucid enough to describe what happened to him. He died Feb. 24, 1996. The lawsuit rested on a theory that either a staff member assaulted McCloskey, who in all likelihood was being disruptive and annoying people at Western State, or chronic understaffing and lax supervision at the hospital allowed a fellow patient to slip into McCloskey's cell and assault him. The facts were never fully established. As part of a settlement reached, the family stands to receive $450,000 to resolve the lawsuit. [ROANOKE: WRONGFUL DEATH SETTLEMENT]

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Published on Dec-11-07