Tarrant jail medical director failed to act before baby was born in cell: court records

The doctor in charge of medical care at the Tarrant County jail failed to provide lifesaving care to a woman who gave birth in the jail to a baby who later died, according to federal court records filed Tuesday in Fort Worth.

Chasity Congious gave birth on May 17, 2020, but jail officials did not notice until some time later, when they found the child not breathing and with a faint heartbeat. The baby died 10 days later.

An obstetrician named Melanie Carter told Aaron Shaw, the jail’s medical director at the time, that Congious needed to be induced into labor and transferred to a medical facility or monitored around the clock hours before she gave birth, according to the document.

Details of the medical staff’s alleged failure to provide adequate care were included in a court order that reopened the lawsuit against Shaw on Tuesday. Shaw was a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a guardian of Congious in January 2022 alongside the county , the city of Fort Worth, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn and others. The court dismissed all defendants except the county in April 2023.

Congious suffers from several mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, bipolar and anxiety disorders, as well as an intellectual disability, and was likely unable to recognize a contraction, Carter told Shaw, the memorandum states. Carter contended that this put her pregnancy at risk.

After her last check-up with Carter, Congious ate breakfast and began to feel abdominal pain the morning her baby was born, the document states. The pain did not abate after using the toilet, and she banged on the window of her cell in an attempt to get guards’ attention. She was being held in solitary confinement.

Guards did not come to her aid and she ended up giving birth alone in her cell, according to the memorandum. Guards came some time later and called paramedics after seeing blood from the delivery and found the baby with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck.

Congious was put on suicide watch on the day her baby died 10 days later, according to the lawsuit, which also states that she was denied compassionate release in order to attend the child’s funeral.

She lacks the ability to fully understand the situation and continues to ask where her baby is, the memorandum states.

The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment citing the pending litigation, a spokesperson said.

Shaw is being represented by attorneys at Cantey & Hanger LLP. Attorney Jordan Parker told the Star-Telegram that the firm does not comment on pending litigation. Carter could not be reached for comment.

Tarrant County commissioners voted in May to award Congious a record $1.2 settlement in the case.