Judge allows jail death lawsuit against San Diego County and NaphCare to proceed

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the family of Vianna Granillo, who was found unresponsive and gasping for air in her cell at Las Colinas women’s jail in July 2022.

The lawsuit, filed last year in federal court, argues that the 25-year-old was left to endure severe drug withdrawal symptoms without appropriate medical care — and should not have been booked into jail in the first place.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan rejected arguments by the county and by jail medical provider NaphCare that Granillo was lawfully arrested and that both the arresting deputy and medical staff were entitled to qualified immunity — a legal doctrine that shields public employees from liability for reasonable mistakes.

Whelan found that “no reasonable officer” would agree that Granillo’s arrest was lawful, and he found that Granillo had a clearly established constitutional right to adequate medical screening and care.

Granillo was arrested on July 8, 2022, for violating a restraining order involving her boyfriend. The order had already been amended months earlier to allow peaceful contact, and court records showed the deputy who arrested her would have been aware of this.

Granillo was also found with a small amount of drugs. Under COVID-19 arrest protocols, she should have been issued a citation and an order to appear in court.

During booking, Granillo disclosed to a nurse that she used fentanyl and alcohol daily. She agreed to a urine test that confirmed multiple substances in her system. But according to the lawsuit, the nurse left detox screening forms blank or incomplete.

A second nurse who evaluated Granillo ordered medication to ease withdrawal symptoms, but it was never administered. A physician who reviewed Granillo’s chart two days later didn’t flag the medication lapse.

By then, Granillo’s persistent vomiting and diarrhea had left her severely dehydrated.

She eventually received a single dose of buprenorphine, a medication commonly used to treat opioid withdrawal — three days after booking.

Early on July 12, Granillo was discovered unresponsive in her cell. Deputies tried to revive her with Narcan and smelling salts but waited several minutes before summoning paramedics, her family’s lawsuit says. An oxygen tank brought to her cell was broken.

She was taken to a hospital. She died there the next day.

The medical examiner determined she had suffered irreversible brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen and sepsis from a perforated stomach, which her family contends resulted from untreated withdrawal.

Autopsy findings also showed her lungs were congested with vomit.

Whelan’s order also upheld claims that both the county and NaphCare maintained practices that ignored well-documented risks of withdrawal in custody. Prior audits, oversight reports and other deaths in custody should have put county officials on notice that policies were inadequate, he found.

Granillo died just weeks after NaphCare began its contract with the county. The medical provider had been hired specifically to address longstanding problems with jail health care but failed to correct them, Whelan noted.

Last month, San Diego County took the unusual step of suing NaphCare over the murder of Brandon Yates at the Central Jail, arguing its providers failed to deliver adequate mental health care to the man who attacked him.

The ruling in the Granillo case was issued the same day county leaders took a final vote to expand the jurisdiction of the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board to include oversight of jail medical staff.

Before the vote, Granillo’s mother, Diana Sanchez, urged the Board of Supervisors to act, saying health care in jails is inseparable from custody.