Print edition: 
Survivors of a Sedgwick County Jail inmate who died while in custody in 2008 have filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking $10 million from the two counties that held him in custody.
Lawyers representing Sedgwick and Stanton counties said they had no indications that Terry A. Bruner, 46, was seriously ill before he was admitted to Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis two days before his death.
The lawsuit, filed this month in U.S. District Court in Wichita, said Bruner died of streptococcal meningitis, which it described as "a very treatable disease."
The lawsuit said Bruner was jailed for driving under the influence of alcohol on Nov. 5, 2007. Because of jail overcrowding, he was transferred three days later to the Stanton County Jail in Johnson City.
On the morning of March 5, 2008, the lawsuit says, Stanton County officials realized that Bruner was seriously ill.
"Rather than send decedent directly to the local hospital for immediate medical treatment, the above defendants... decided to transport decedent back to the defendant Sedgwick County Jail," the lawsuit said.
In their response, lawyers for Stanton County conceded that they learned that Bruner was sick on March 5.
"Bruner however, refused any offered medical assistance, insisting that he merely had the flu and would feel better in a day or two," the Stanton County reply said.
Lawyers for Sedgwick County said they learned that day that Bruner was ill, but denied that he "was extremely ill, had a serious medical condition and needed immediate medical attention."
The lawsuit said Bruner arrived back at the Sedgwick County Jail on the evening of March 6, where he "languished for four days" without adequate medical attention.
He was finally examined at 5:30 p.m. on March 10, the lawsuit said, and taken to Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis that night. He died about 6 p.m. on March 12.
"By the time Mr. Bruner arrived at the hospital it was too late to save him," the lawsuit said. "The bacterial meningitis was so overwhelming that his brain swelled to the point of causing irreversible brain damage."
A trial date has not been set.
