The City Settles

On Tuesday, the board, which consists of Gov. Joe Lombardo, Attorney General Aaron Ford, and Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, approved the following:

• $200,000 for Delbert Greene
• $597,000 for Steven Scott
• $200,000 for Gregory Wolf

AGAIN: These are NEW Lawsuits

Here’s a quick breakdown of what those lawsuits were about.

Delbert Greene

Nevada Department of Corrections records show Greene was originally given jail time on robbery and burglary charges. He was then charged with being a “habitual criminal.”

According to his original complaint, Greene said he served one sentence twice, which is a violation of the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy clause. He states he was held in prison for nearly three years after he was supposed to be released.

Attorneys for the NDOC have denied those claims.

Steven Scott

Scott’s original complaint states that he suffered persistent constipation and hemorrhoids, which got progressively worse in 2019. It led to significant bleeding, and, according to records reviewed by Channel 13, an NDOC physician said the condition was “profoundly serious” and a colonoscopy should be ordered. That was on Jan. 20, 2020.

The complaint states that over a month went by, and the colonoscopy was canceled and replaced by stool sampling tests.

Scott’s condition continued to get worse. In a doctor’s note from Sept. 5, 2020, a prison medical staff member noted “Inmate was crying during assessment,” and Scott was “barely able to sit during assessment.”

On Sept. 17, 2020, Scott was out on a work-related firefighting training assignment when he collapsed. He was transported to Summerlin Hospital for further evaluation.

During that evaluation, doctors found a mass. After further testing, they diagnosed Scott with stage 3 colon cancer.

On Jan. 16, 2021, Scott had surgery, and he returned to prison “with a portion of his intestines in a plastic bag taped to his abdomen and now wearing a colostomy bag.” Following surgery, Scott also underwent 12 cycles of chemotherapy treatments for rectal cancer.

Scott’s complaint states that doctors told him he could have avoided the mass continuing to grow, and he could have been treated with oral medication rather than surgery, if he had been given proper medical treatment.

In December 2021, Scott was released from the NDOC. In the years since, he underwent more radiation treatment, a partial bowel resection, and a second surgery where his intestines were put back inside his body.

He states NDOC’s neglect puts him at risk for future complications and early death.

Attorneys for the NDOC denied Scott’s claims that any decisions regarding his treatment were medically unsound.

Gregory Wolf

Wolf is in his 70s, and his complaint states he has been diagnosed with severe cataracts since 2007.

During his incarceration, the complaint states Wolf continuously asked NDOC medical staff for surgery to correct the issue. However, his complaint states that those requests were repeatedly denied, and medical care was delayed.

“He has been seeking attention for this problem for over two years with no results,” his sister Alyn wrote in September 2020, according to court records.

The complaint states that when Wolf finally did have cataract surgery on his left eye, the doctor treating him said, “it was the worst case he had ever treated, which was due to the length of time it took to attend to his situation.”

Wolf now has limited vision in his left eye and is blind in his right eye.

Attorneys for the NDOC have denied those allegations.

Continuing coverage

You may remember two other high-profile cases last year. The State of Nevada paid nearly $1 million to settle medical neglect lawsuits filed by inmate Charles Morris. His back issues progressed to the point where he has been paralyzed since 2022.

In September, the family of Christian Walker received $4.6 million from the State of Nevada — the largest wrongful death settlement in state history.