The Massachusetts city will settle a lawsuit over the death of an opioid-addicted woman

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Family members of a Vermont woman whose obituary drew national attention for its frank and heartbreaking discussion of her opioid addiction have reached a settlement with some of the parties sued for allegedly failing to provide adequate medical care.

The family of Madelyn Linsenmeir has sued the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, saying law enforcement officers ignored the 30-year-old mother’s pleas for help before she died from an infected heart valve.

The Springfield City Council will discuss the proposed settlement involving the city and three police officers this week, according to a court document. The settlement does not include the sheriff’s office.

Linsenmeir’s obituary was widely shared for its blunt address about her struggles with drug addiction, encouraging readers to see addiction as a disease and “not as a choice or a weakness.”

It called on workers in rehabilitation centers, hospitals, prisons and courts to treat people battling substance abuse with compassion and respect.

“If instead you see a junkie, thief or liar instead of a human being in need of help, consider a new profession,” the obituary said.

The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts alleged that Linsenmeir was arrested in September 2018 and accused of being a fugitive on a warrant in New Hampshire and giving a false name. Video after her arrest shows Linsenmeir telling police she was in pain and “maybe needed to go to the hospital.”

She was taken to the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center, where prosecutors allege she did not receive adequate care. On Oct. 4, medical staff noticed she was in distress and took her to the hospital, according to the lawsuit. She died there days later while in custody of the sheriff’s office.