On October 6, 2012, Brandon Johnson died at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, following his admission only three days earlier. For the three days prior to his death, Mr. Johnson told staff at the Complex that he had become paralyzed from being injured at the Complex, and asked to be taken to another hospital for medical care. Staff at the Complex apparently did not believe Mr. Johnson, and left him lying on a mattress on the floor or sitting in a geriatric chair. After his complaints of paralysis went ignored, Mr. Johnson died from a pulmonary embolism, which is a complication from lack of movement due to the documented broken neck and resulting paralysis.

Now, a federal inspection report has determined that problems at the Complex caused the death of Mr. Johnson, Specifically, the report concluded that it was a "lack of monitoring, assessing, evaluation and providing appropriate intervention" by Complex staff that led to Mr. Johnson's death. In fact, the report found the care of Mr. Johnson to be so deficient that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services declared the Complex "an immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety." If Milwaukee Countydoes not fix the problems at the Complex, it could lose its federal funding. The death of Brandon Johnson is the fifth death at the Complex this year. For more information about the problems at the Complex, please see the reporting of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel here.

The Milwaukee personal injury lawyers of Samster, Konkel & Safran, S.C. represent the parents of Brandon Johnson. Attorney Jonathan S. Safran called the federal report regarding the issues at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex "devastating." We will do our best to make sure that there is justice for Mr. Johnson's death. We also hope that the Complex immediately addresses and resolves the problems identified in the federal report, so that future tragedies can be avoided.