Alyssia Moulton, 34, is suing Southern Health Partners who are the medical provider for the lockup facility in Tennessee, along with several other defendants
Alyssia Moulton
By William Walker
07:58 ET, Aug 9 2024
A woman has claimed she was forced to give birth in a prison toilet after being put in solitary confinement.
Alyssia Moulton, 34, is suing Southern Health Partners who are the medical provider for the lockup facility in Tennessee, along with a number of other defendants. In a 65-page lawsuit, she claims staff had a deliberate indifference to her suffering and medical needs.
The lawsuit accuses staff and the medical provider of medical negligence along with other due process violations. It alleges that the inmate gave birth to her son while alone in a jail cell.
It reads: “Ms. Moulton was alone in her jail cell when she delivered the baby. She delivered the baby into the toilet. As a result of delivery into the toilet, A.M. suffered various injuries, including a blood infection of Gram-Positive Cocci and an eye infection of Citrobacter freundii.”
She was detained last year
According to the suit Moulton was detained on a burglary charge on August 19 last year. She was said to have only learned of her pregnancy after being tested by employees of Southern Health Partners while in jail that same day.
The lawsuit claims that despite this she was not scheduled for a doctor’s evaluation. It reads: “The failure to schedule Ms. Moulton for a routine pre-natal medical evaluation by a licensed physician was especially egregious.
“Ms. Moulton 1) was unaware she was pregnant, 2) had been using opioids while pregnant 3) was unsure of her last menstrual period, 4) even her last menstrual period as reported would make her at least 24 weeks pregnant, and 5) during her entire pregnancy, she had never been evaluated by a medical doctor.”
It goes on to allege that she was not given an ultrasound despite staff knowing she was pregnant and then left alone. The lawsuit adds: “Ms. Moulton was housed in medical isolation, where she spent 23 hours per day in her cell, with 1 hour per day out of her cell.
“This housing condition constituted solitary confinement. Ms. Moulton was housed in solitary confinement for the duration of her incarceration at the Montgomery County jail, from 8/19/23 to 8/27/23 (until delivery of her baby and transport to the hospital).”
She alleges that she complained to medical staff about contractions on the morning of the birth and despite an entry of a nursing staff visit her complaints were allegedly not taken seriously and staff ‘consciously disregarded the foreseeable risk that Ms. Moulton would imminently deliver her baby.’
She claims she was forced to deliver her baby alone
The lawsuit claims: “As a result of Defendants’ conscious disregard of this risk, Ms. Moulton gave birth alone in a jail cell, delivering her baby into the toilet. The jail cell in which Ms. Moulton was forced to deliver her baby alone is not a medically adequate facility.”
Moulton is said to have returned to solitary confinement two days after the birth before being re-uinted with her son on September 5, 2023. She goes on to claim her drug withdrawal treatment was nearly zero.
Moulton’s civil rights-focused lawyer Christopher Smith told Law&Crime: “We look forward to bringing this important case on behalf of Ms. Moulton and her child.
“This case raises important questions about the incarceration of pregnant women. Tennessee has one of the highest rates of female incarceration in the nation, which itself has one of the highest rates of female incarceration in the world. We hope this lawsuit shines a light on this often-overlooked social issue and raises awareness of the civil rights of pregnant inmates.”
Surely this must constitute medical malpractice on the part of the health care team. Especially the nurse who saw her the day of delivery. And who would not have heard her screams of horrid pain while giving birth under no anesthesia whatsoever. That in itself is lack of emergency medical care…She and her son could have easily died. That’s close, very, very close to a attempted murder charge and attempted fetal homicide or attempted infant homicide.
So lets reward this stupid drug addict for her ignorance. One bad decision after the other and some how its someone elses fault. Give her a free neuter and hand full of free needles and send her on her way. Another baby for granny to raise.
Your comment is immature and disgusting. You should fully be ashamed of yourself.
What life lesson has taught you to be so blatantly bitter and ignorant?
That is, and I mean all of it, terrible to say. We have all made mistakes. Some more than others, but you can tell a white lie or kill someone, and God sees all sins as a sin. You running your mouth is one of them. And what about the baby? We are not perfect..even you. So let’s try to watch what we say about others. Maybe you should read your Bible. Who ever you are…
I hope you are not as ignorant as you sound, because if you are your truly a greater threat than any drug addict!
Even as an addict her and that baby are still human and the lack of withdrawal treatment could have killed her baby inside the womb and even though the baby survived withdrawal in the womb the nastiness of the toilet could’ve led to that’s child’s death as well as severe head injuries but this don’t just happen to women on drugs imagine being pregnant with other kids at home and being arrested because you stole something you needed like formula, food, or diapers and then the jail you’re in treat you and your child like this I mean it’s just the fact they are privately funded so most of the time they get by with doing what they please the jails and prisons both. I’ve seen it myself with family members who were innocent of there crimes and had the charges immediately dropped when the went before a judge.
It doesn’t matter what she did the fact is she is still a human being and being treated like that is unconstitutional and her baby didn’t ask for that. Now days we live in a cruel world where people judge people for the things they’ve done everyone has made a mistake or two in life that doesn’t make her less important. I have a couple addicts in my family and I have always been their support system and that’s what they need to over come this disease and if they have the right support system they over come it like my two family members they’ve been clean for 10 yrs. That comment was unnecessary and I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of mistakes. God is the only judge here not you or anyone else so remember that when he comes and your not at the pearly gates because of your callous behavior.