Prison death traced back to Orange County and drug supplier

The sister of a Middletown woman who died in Orange County Jail last year has accused a medical provider of medical malpractice.

Layla Capaci alleges in a complaint filed June 17 in U.S. District Court in White Plains that Wellpath NY and Orange County correctional officials ignored important information about inmate Niki Capaci and failed to provide her with appropriate medical treatment.

“Defendants’ willful denial of appropriate medical care and treatment related to Ms. Capaci’s opiate withdrawal during a critical period,” the complaint states, “resulted in her suffering cruel and unusual treatment that proximately led to her premature death.”

District Attorney Richard B. Golden said the district denies the allegations and will vigorously defend the prison guards. Attempts to contact a Wellpath spokesman in Nashville, Tennessee, to ask for the company’s perspective were unsuccessful.

Niki Capaci was 40 when she died in prison on May 6, 2023. According to her obituary, she had trained as a nurse and worked as one. She left behind seven children.

The county medical examiner concluded during an autopsy that death was due to acute drug intoxication, including fentanyl (synthetic opioid), xylazine (animal tranquilizer often mixed with fentanyl), chlordiazepoxide (anti-anxiety drug) and diazepam (tranquilizer), the lawsuit states. The cause of death was ruled “accidental (drug abuse).”

She was arrested on May 3, 2023, for violating probation. Upon initial examination, she was found to be in generally good health, the complaint states, but multiple injection sites were found on her right hip and she stated she had used heroin earlier in the day.

Later that day, she asked to be transferred to the medical clinic operated by Wellpath. She was placed under special observation, a protocol that requires a patient to be monitored every 15 minutes for signs of drug withdrawal.

According to the complaint, prison guards recorded numerous observations of Capaci but failed to document her behavior, even though cameras allegedly documented her steadily deteriorating condition.

Capaci was taken to the hospital several times as her condition worsened. She was repeatedly given buprenorphine, despite allegedly telling medical staff that she could not tolerate the detoxification drug.

She was given the anti-anxiety drug chlordiazepoxide, the lawsuit says. Although it is not intended to treat heroin withdrawal, it can cause fatal side effects if inadequately monitored and is not suitable for asthmatics like Capaci.

Her condition steadily worsened: nausea, vomiting, dry heaving, sweating, anxiety, hallucinations, diarrhea, dehydration, chest pain, tremors. Eventually, as camera footage shows, she was so weak that she could neither walk nor stand upright and had to be taken to the hospital in a wheelchair.

During her last clinic visit on May 6, 2023, at approximately 1:43 a.m., Capaci received another dose of chlordiazepoxide and was returned to her cell in a semi-conscious state around 2 a.m., according to the lawsuit.

Four hours later she was found dead in her cell.

Capaci’s health condition was not properly assessed, the complaint says, and when her vomiting could not be relieved, she should have been taken to a hospital.

On behalf of her sister’s estate and next of kin, Layla Capaci is seeking unspecified compensation and punitive damages.