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Suit blames jail staff in brain-damage case

Mother claims negligence; jury to decide

By Ginny LaRoe

Jan McRaven takes care of her son Steven McFarland at their Hot Springs Village home last week.

Photo by Steve Keesee

Jan McRaven takes care of her son Steven McFarland at their Hot Springs Village home last week.

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Steven McFarland went off to war a proud soldier planning to make a career in the military.

After a tour in Iraq, the gunner returned home tormented, his mother says. He began using drugs and ended up in jail one day in 2007 on traffic charges.

With muscle relaxers, painkillers and other drugs in his system, the 22-year-old entered a Hot Springs jail cell where he slipped into a coma and stopped breathing.

No one performed CPR. He wasn’t sent to the hospital until another inmate found him unresponsive and foaming at the mouth.

After two years of legal maneuvering, a federal jury is set to determine if Garland County sheriff’s office employees treated McFarland with deliberate indifference ...

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This article was published November 30, 2009 at 4:42 a.m.

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 11/30/2009

Read 7 comments on this story.

Comments on Suit blames jail staff in brain-damage case

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conservativearkansan says...

Sorry about your son
you are a neurology nurse practitioner surly you recognized his drug use required help prior to his arrest.
I agree that he need care but your comment "He fought for our country" means the VA should take care of him, just because you fight for your country does not allow you to do anything you want and someone else foot the bill
"With muscle relaxers, painkillers and other drugs in his system" he chose to take these drugs, I feel fortunate he was stopped and arrested before he caused an accident and killed or injured innocent people

November 30, 2009 at 6:15 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

TheBatt says...

Amazing how folks want to hold others responsible for what, at the core, is their own (or the "victim's") responsibility. How did her son end up on the jail's drunk tank? Through his own actions.


While I appreciate his service to this nation in the armed forces, this doesn't give free-reign to inflict a drug problem on the rest of society. Get the help you need (which IS available from the VA and the military system, I know some really good men engaged in that kind of help right now). Go find a church and pastor to help, check yourself into rehab, and so-on.


It is sad that he had to tank himself up on drugs so bad that he essentially tried to commit suicide - and jailers failed to see the severity of his condition until it was basically too late.



But what initiated this in the first place? HE CHOSE to drug himself up, then get behind the wheel of a vehicle, putting others at high risk of injury or death (not to mention himself).

November 30, 2009 at 8:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

manta says...

I have no idea who would be at fault here, but I do know Veterans need help adjusting, after returning from combat.
I would like the military to consider mandatory counseling the last month of service, in a Vet Center type setting, much like the VA finally did after Vietnam. Counseling by other Vets who have been there and done that, not by over educated egg heads.
As a drafted veteran of the Vietnam era, I never though our "leaders" would forget so soon and repeat another horrible history lesson.
God bless our soldiers.

November 30, 2009 at 8:26 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

paulaw says...

Yes, this young solider made a very bad mistake by taking drugs and getting behind a wheel of a car. I also think he made a very bad choice to go and serve our Country. He was willing to give his life to save ours and now due to the lack of help and support look were he is today. If the Court system will not support our soldiers then this will prove what kind place we live in. We're willing to let them risk everthing ,but not willing to give back when needed.

GOD BESS AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 30, 2009 at 2:20 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

LorrieT says...

To those writing comments that the mother being a nurse should have done more to help her son, I wanted to say I only wished you'd walked in her shoes, but that would have been as unkind as your remarks have been. Until you know the whole story please don't judge. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is very serious apparently you don't have a child that has come home from the war suffering. How sad that the previous comments are from folks that are pointing fingers, without the knowlege of the true events.
No matter what the situation no one should ever be left to die or suffer brain injuries because of deliberate indifference.

November 30, 2009 at 3:36 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

SallyMay says...

As a very close friend of the McFarland family, I encourage you all to really know a situation BEFORE you post public comments about it. This story is a brief glimpse into the life of this family over the last two years. Both parents are physicians, but what can you do when an adult son who isn't on the right path... legally, there is nothing you can do. This is an amazing family who is working to over come this trajedy and make best of the situation. The comments that have been left are extremely immature, unnecessary, and above all, hurtful. I just spoke with one of the members of this family who was deeply pained by these comments. I cannot fathom the pain the McFarland's have felt, nor do I wish to. For those of you who left such distasteful comments, I encourage you to step back and take a look at yourselves; and for those of you who are parents, I can assure you your children have done things you would not be proud of. I have had the privelege to know Steven both before and after this accident. Yes, he chose to take the drugs, however he was also on the front lines of war. While this is not an excuse, as civilians we will never be able to understand what Steven saw the many years he was deployed. He was a proud soldier who willingly served OUR country to ensure OUR freedom.. Have a little respect and dignity and do not comment on stories which you have NO idea what you are talking about.

November 30, 2009 at 11:43 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

lawyer86 says...

May God comfort this family in caring for their son. I always hate to hear of prisoner brutality by staff. If this can be proven, may the person be brought to justice.

As a criminologist, I find it ironic that we evade reality with criminals. Abuse of drugs is a serious crime; it makes ups over 60% of prison inmate population in the US. Mr McFarland abused drugs. We should not treat him any different because he was in the military. It is a sad reflection on the US Constitution and any moral value of any human being at that, that folks here ignore these issues everyday.

There are inmates who claim to be beaten by staff. Drug users with the same problem as Mr McFarland. The only difference is these men and women didn't serve in the military. I say it's ironic that we snicker at these inmates because they are 'scums of society' as we make them appear.

Do not get me wrong; I hate to hear that someone who served their country ended up incarcerated. But I hate it just as much as the homeless bum off the street that ends up doing the same thing.

It is immaterial to the court system- due to the US Constitution- that Mr McFarland served his country. This has nothing to do with the fact he committed the crime. I do understand there is stress and trama after war- which is why I am against this war period. People love to call it the war on freedom. What??? America isn't fighting for freedom. We already have it.

I wish Mr McFarland well, and as a criminologist, I hate to hear he got himself in legal troubles. May God's grace and peace be with him & his family.

December 1, 2009 at 7:53 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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