STEVEN Romie Aguon, 44, has sued Department of Corrections officials in federal court, accusing them of deliberate indifference for failing to provide adequate medical care. He is demanding $500,000 in damages.
Aguon who is representing himself, is serving a 15-year sentence for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy in 2016.
He named as defendants Corrections Commissioner Wally Villagomez, Corrections Director Georgia Cabrera, acting Corrections Director Jose Pangilinan, Dr. Gregory Kotheimer, and Corrections medical officer Carmen Iba.
In his complaint, Aguon alleged that Corrections officials and their agents failed to provide him with constitutionally adequate medical care while being incarcerated.
He said the Corrections officials violated his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
According to Aguon, Corrections failed to provide adequate medical care which caused serious harm, pain, and risk of harm.
He said Corrections failed to provide an adequate number of healthcare professionals, and delayed and denied his medical treatment for an emergency checkup.
The department allowed Corrections officers to deny or delay access to medical care “whether by the individual officers’ affirmative actions or the systemic understaffing of custodial staff who are necessary to prisoners’ access to treatment,” Aguon said in his complaint.
He also accused Corrections of not adequately training security and healthcare staff on how to handle healthcare emergencies, and as a result the department failed to respond properly and timely to emergencies involving prisoners like him.
Aguon said he exhausted all available remedies, filing multiple grievances and following Corrections protocols, but the department’s officials still violated his 8th and 14th Amendment rights pertaining to his need for adequate medical care.
Aguon said he suffered 17 days of “cruel and unusual punishment” following a testicular surgery.
