Man dies after he wasn’t given his medication in jail, family says

RENO, Nev. ( KOLO /Gray News) - A Nevada mother is looking for answers after she says her son died due to the negligence of jail medical staff.

Lesley Overfield, the mother of Nicholas Overfield, says she didn't even know her son had left the jail until she got a call from Barton Memorial Hospital.

"Even when they sent him to the hospital dying, they didn't even call me," Lesley Overland said. "In my world, that's a cover-up."

She wants to hold the medical staff accountable for their actions.

Her son was arrested in February of 2022 and booked into the El Dorado County Jail. In just under four months, he died.

His family claims he died because he wasn't given access to his prescribed antiretroviral medication to treat his HIV.

The Overland family said Wellpath Medical staff had given him his prescribed antiretroviral medication when he was previously in custody about two years prior.

During his February arrest, the family said Nicholas Overland informed the arresting officers that he was HIV positive and would need his prescribed antiretroviral medication during his detention to ensure his HIV remained in check.

But over the next two months plus, they say medical staff ignored his pleas and their own medical files.

The family has since filed a lawsuit that states a Wellpath doctor delayed seeing Nicholas Overland for nearly two weeks after reviewing his medical records which showed that he had an active prescription for antiretroviral medication to manage his condition.

"Last time I saw him he was up, walking around, talking, telling me what was going on. Two weeks later I went back, and they wheeled him into the visiting room. He was too weak to stand or even talk," Lesley Overland said. "He was so weak and disoriented; he didn't know how to use the phone. He never did speak. I kept asking what was wrong and he just fell on the table."

Lesley Overland said she asked a guard what was wrong with her son.

"They simply replied, 'You'll have to ask him,' before walking away," she said.

According to Lesley Overland, that was the last time she saw her son alive.

"If they had taken any compassion, he would still be alive," she said.

The family's lawsuit names a doctor, two nurses and a health services administrator among those from Wellpath Medical as being responsible for the death of Nicholas Overland.

An El Dorado County Sheriff's Office captain, lieutenant and sergeant have also been added to the complaint.

"The jail got a record within two days showing he had an active prescription for Juluca, which is an HIV medication specifically meant to prevent infection and protect the immune system. And then over two months staff failed to get him the medication," Ty Clarke, the family's attorney said.

Nicholas Overland's reported cause of death was encephalitis varicella-zoster virus, which is a virus that causes brain swelling.

According to physicians, the condition is treatable if the person has a proper immune system.

"The medications prevent the virus from making more viruses, and that allows the body to build up an immune system so it can protect yourself," Ivy Spadone, a physician assistant for HIV care at Northern Nevada Hopes, said.

Lesley Overland said she wants her son to be remembered for his generous and kind personality.

"He was a great poet, an artist, he was very creative," she said. "He was a great dad, his kids miss him, he loved his family, and we miss him a lot."

Representatives from the El Dorado County jail, county officials, or the sheriff's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the situation.