The sister of a mentally ill man who died of dehydration at the Cobb County Jail after not receiving his medication for more than a week has sued Sheriff Neil Warren and the jail's healthcare provider, Wellstar Health Systems.

Reginald Wilson died at the jail Dec. 29, 2018, from what the medical examiner deemed dehydration "while lying in a room covered in feces and urine," said the complaint his sister, Monica Peltier, filed in Cobb County Superior Court.

"This was just a horrible situation; this gentleman was held for more than a week before he died," said attorney W. Pitts Carr. "The jail psychiatrist ordered that he be given a couple of drugs, but they never saw that he took them—he got one pill the day before he died."

Carr said Wilson, 54, worked at an auto repair shop and "was generally employed so long as he could get his medication, but he'd fall off when he couldn't get it."

"After he got to the jail, they knew he was having an acute psychotic episode and needed help," said Pitts & Carr partner Alex Weatherby.

The lawyers said the jail's medical staff also knew from previous incarcerations that Wilson had a history of serious mental disorders and required antipsychotic medications.

As detailed in the complaint filed by his sister and estate administrator, Monica Peltier, when Wilson was picked up by an ambulance on Dec. 20, 2018, he was "rambling about angels, demons and how the world goes round" and gave his name as "Radio."

Wilson was taken to Wellstar Cobb Hospital and later that day transported to the Cobb County Jail, where he was held for violating his probation.

A nurse employed by Wellstar was assigned to Wilson's intake, and the complaint said electronic records showed he was classified "SPMI," for Serious Persistent Mental Illness. She noted that he was schizophrenic and bipolar, "demonstrated bizarre behavior and required close observation."

She also wrote that Wilson was "hearing voices or seeing visions, unusually loud with obnoxious behavior and had an impaired level of consciousness."

Wilson was observed in the jail infirmary smearing feces on the floor, but "no member of Wellstar notified the jail psychiatrist," the complaint said.

Wilson was moved from the infirmary to an intake pod two days later, where a staffer said he was "unstable," had "wide eyes" and was "smearing poo all over the floor today."

She too failed to notify the psychiatrist, it said, and Wilson was "apparently tased" that night, "as there is an EKG ordered following the incident."

On Dec. 23, 2018, a jail psychologist noted that Wilson was still smearing feces on the floor and yelling, writing that he would follow up the next day.

There is no record of any such follow-up, but on Christmas Day the psychologist wrote that WIlson was "incoherent" and "out of touch with reality." He did not inform the psychiatrist, the complaint said.

On Dec. 26, 2018, a counselor who knew Wilson said he would respond well to anti-bipolar medications, and the jail psychiatrist prescribed an anti-psychotic medication, Zyprexa, and another for anxiety. He did not perform an in-person assessment before or after prescribing the drugs, the complaint said.

Wilson did not receive the anti-psychotic that day and was never provided the anxiety medication.

The next day, jail nurses "apparently did not administer the medication because Mr. Wilson was 'not present,'" the complaint said, but there is no indication they informed the psychiatrist.

Wilson took one Zyprexa but refused when a second was offered on Dec. 28, 2018.

Wilson was found dead on the floor the following day.

After his death, a nurse entered a medical note saying she had seen him "lying in his cell, covered in feces and urine. He was making noises and moving his fingers. She did not provide him medication because he was 'unable to take medication.'"

She did not inform the psychiatrist of the "acute nature" of his symptoms or his refusal to take medication.

Wilson did not drink enough water to keep him alive throughout his stay in jail, the complaint said, and consistently received substandard care.

"Rather than alert the jail psychiatrist, the defendants merely documented his demise," the lawsuits said.

The complaint names Warren, the Cobb County Community Service Board, Wellstar and its jail nurses, the psychologist, psychiatrist and three deputies as defendants.

It asserts claims for violation of Wilson's constitutional rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments, wrongful death, pain and suffering and state tort claims against the community service board, as well as medical malpractice claims against the Wellstar defendants.

The defendants have not filed an answer, and there was no response to inquiries from Cobb County Attorney H. William Rowling Jr. A Wellstar spokesperson said she would inquire into the case and try to get a response.

A spokesman for the sheriff declined to comment.

Wilson's death is one of seven reported at the jail since 2018 that have spurred calls for an investigation by the Cobb County NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, which in November filed an Open Records Act request seeking information about mental health staffing and attendance data.

In a letter to the editor published by the Marietta Daily Journal last month, Warren said the "sad reality is that many of our inmates come to us with pre-existing health problems that they may not even be aware of. Their health could have been affected by their lifestyle, their possible use of highly addictive drugs and an overall avoidance of the medical profession for reasons only they know."