ACLU Calls for Justice for Family of Gay Man Denied CPR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Contact: Andrew Schneider,
(304) 345-9246
CHARLESTON, WV – In a lawsuit filed today, the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the actions of a police chief who blocked efforts to administer CPR to a gay man suffering a heart attack.
“This is a shocking instance of baseless prejudice and discrimination resulting in denial of potentially lifesaving help,” said Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of the ACLU of West Virginia. “This man’s surviving family will have to live the rest of their lives with the knowledge that in his last moments their son, brother, and father was isolated from care that might have saved him.”
Claude Green was driving his truck in Welch, West Virginia with a friend in June 2005 when he suddenly experienced difficulty breathing and lost control of the vehicle. His friend brought the truck under control and rushed to the driver’s side to begin administering CPR. Minutes later, Welch’s police chief, Robert K. Bowman, arrived on the scene. Bowman forcibly removed Claude’s friend from his side, even after the friend told him that Claude was responding to his efforts. The chief then persisted in blocking anyone from providing assistance, based on the erroneous and unfounded belief that Claude was HIV positive.
By the time an ambulance arrived at the scene, it was too late to revive Claude. He was pronounced dead at Welch Community Hospital at the age of 43.
“Claude was a person who would help anyone who needed it,” said his sister Mary Mullins. “It’s devastating to think that when he finally needed help it was denied him. I’ve heard that when someone dies his hearing is the last to go. We hate to imagine that what Claude heard in his last moments was someone ordering his friend to stop trying to help him live.”
Claude is survived by his mother, three sisters, a brother, and his son. His mother Helen Green, as executrix of his estate and personal representative of his surviving family members, is the plaintiff in the case.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia at Bluefield, alleges discrimination based on Claude’s perceived disability, violation of his rights to equal protection of the laws and due process of law, and wrongful death.
The case is being sponsored by the ACLU’s national Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. The plaintiff is represented by Rose Saxe, of the national Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, ACLU cooperating attorney Marshall S. Campbell, and ACLU of West Virginia legal director Terri S. Baur.
Read the Case Profile for the Estate of Claude Green v. Robert Bowman
Learn more about this case and the ACLU HIV/AIDS project
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