By Kimberley Haas
Foster’s Daily Democrat
DOVER — A federal inmate being held at Strafford County House of Corrections is suing for $15 million, claiming he is being mistreated by medical staff at the jail.
Luis Pavao, of 6 Mason St., Unit 38, in Pepperell, Mass., filed a civil suit against the Department of Corrections earlier this month.
Pavao says he is permanently restricted to a wheelchair because doctors working with the jail refused to clear him for a back surgery after his arrest. Pavao, who is a boarder being held for the U.S. Marshals Service, says he was scheduled for a sixth surgery on his back before being taken into custody, but doctors refused to go forward with it once he was incarcerated.
Pavao has been at the county jail since April. He claims his window of opportunity for the surgery is now lost and that he has been told he will be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.
During a hearing on Friday, where Pavao asked Judge Steven Houran for immediate emergency relief at Strafford County Superior Court, County Attorney Thomas Velardi said Pavao was denied the surgery because of superseding cardiac issues. Velardi said the county got two opinions from doctors who both declined to perform the surgery because of the risks associated with it.
Velardi explained to Houran that staff at the jail have Pavao on a pain management schedule and it has been routinely observed that he can care for his own personal hygiene. Staffers have gone out of their way to make Pavao comfortable, Velardi said.
The jail’s superintendent even went to a private auction to purchase an electric wheelchair with a joystick for Pavao.
“He complained about the sensitivity of the joystick,” Velardi told Houran, saying that Pavao rejected the chair.
Pavao was asking that a quadriplegic wheelchair be ordered for him as soon as possible as part of the hearing.
“The institution safely treats and maintains Mr. Pavao. They will continue to consult with outside physicians when the need arises,” Velardi said.
Pavao countered by saying that Velardi’s claims he was denied surgery because of his cardiac conditions are “totally misleading.”
“Before I was arrested, I was scheduled for surgery. The reason I am considered inoperable now is because of the delay. I am in a wheelchair for the rest of my life because of the delays of Strafford County,” Pavao said.
Pavao also argued during the hearing that he was left to suffer with stomach pains for more than two weeks in the months of August and September. Those issues had already been dealt with at the time of the hearing.
Houran declined to provide any immediate relief to Pavao, stating he did not prove an immediate and irreparable injury would occur without a court order.
Velardi said on Tuesday the House of Corrections takes the medical care of state and federal inmates very seriously. Staff members go out of their way to get incarcerated individuals the help they need, he said.
Velardi will not be the attorney arguing the case during the rest of the civil suit. He was only representing the jail for Friday’s hearing. The case against the Department of Corrections will be handled by Corey Belobrow of Maggiotto and Belobrow in Concord.
Belobrow was not available for comment on this story because he was not in his office on Tuesday afternoon, according to staff at his law firm.