Family of Madelyn Linsenmeir Reaches Tentative Settlement in Wrongful Death Suit

The estate of Madelyn Linsenmeir, whose viral 2018 obituar y urged compassion for people addicted to drugs, has reached a tentative settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Springfield, Mass.

Attorneys for Linsenmeir’s family notified the U.S. District Court in Springfield of the settlement on April 3 but did not disclose its terms. The Springfield City Council will vote on the agreement next week, federal court documents say. The Boston Globe first reported on the proposed settlement.

Linsenmeir, a Burlington native who suffered from opioid-use disorder, died in police custody after repeatedly asking for medical care. Printed in Seven Days, her obituary spurred the paper’s award-winning “Hooked” series, which was penned by Linsenmeir’s sister Kate O’Neill.

Reached on Thursday, Maura O’Neill, another of Linsenmeir’s sisters and the executor of her estate, said the family is reserving comment until after the settlement is finalized.

Linsenmeir was arrested on a probation violation warrant in Springfield on September 29, 2018. During her booking interview, which was recorded on a surveillance camera, she repeatedly said she was sick and needed medical care.

“I have a really, really bad chest, like I don’t know what happened to it. It feels like it’s caving in,” Linsenmeir said. “I can’t breathe.”

The next day, Linsenmeir was transferred to the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, which brought her to the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee, Mass. She again asked for, and was denied, help.

On October 4, 2018, prison staff summoned an ambulance after finding Linsenmeir in her cell “in severe distress,” the lawsuit says. Hospital staff diagnosed her with endocarditis — a heart infection common in people who use intravenous drugs — gave her antibiotics and eventually placed her on a respirator. She died on October 7 at age 30, leaving behind a 3-year-old son.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts and Boston law firm Goulston & Storrs filed the suit on behalf of the family in 2020. It alleges that endocarditis is “generally treatable” if given timely attention.

The settlement, if approved next week, would leave open the family’s remaining claims against the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and two of its staff, court records say.

Lawsuit: Denial of Medical Care Led to Madelyn Linsenmeir’s Death

Hooked: A Love Story From Vermont’s Opioid Crisis

Writer Kate O’Neill reflects on what she’s learned since her sister Madelyn Linsenmeir’s death in October 2018. “Since my sister died,” she writes in the final installment of her yearlong series, “I’ve been asked over and over what people can do to help others with opioid-use disorder. A year ago I didn’t have an answer. Now I have many.”