Lawsuit alleging care withheld from inmate proceeds

RENO -- A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging prison and medical staff deliberately withheld medical treatment from the former manager of the Coasters music group, leading to his slow and painful death from gangrene while on death row in Ely.

U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks, in an order filed Tuesday in Reno, said the lawsuit filed by survivors of Patrick Cavanaugh can continue against Ely State Prison Warden E.K. McDaniel and six other prison administrators and medical staff.

"I think the language the judge used ... reflects how serious this case should be taken," said Marc Picker, one lawyer for the family.

Cavanaugh was convicted in 1985 of killing Coasters group member Nathaniel "Buster" Wilson in Las Vegas.

The lawsuit contends staff members at the maximum-security prison refused to dispense insulin to treat Cavanaugh's diabetes, causing him to develop gangrene in his legs.