Sixty-two-year-old Susie Balfour has filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) after she says the correction facility medical contractors repeatedly denied her medical treatment, causing her a delayed breast cancer diagnosis. The cancer has since become terminal after spreading to other parts of her body, including her lymph nodes and spine.

The lawsuit names several defendants, including MDOC medical contractors Wexford Health Sources, Centurion Health, and others. Both Wexford and Centurion, two private healthcare providers, have received criticism over the years regarding their treatment of incarcerated individuals under their care in Mississippi. Balfour’s lawsuit also names Gloria Mangum Perry, the doctor who treated her, as being liable for medical malpractice. The lawsuit argues Dr. Perry failed to “recognize and diagnose cancerous lesions, masses, and/or calcifications” and failed to provide adequate follow-up care.

Balfour’s lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating her constitutional rights, including a violation of the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and individual punishment. In addition to failing to provide for her medical needs, she says she believes prison conditions such as cleaning the prison using harsh chemicals like glyphosate —a known carcinogen, were the cause of her cancer.

The complaint alleges that medical officials at the correction facility were made aware that Balfour may have cancer as early as 2018. However, they waited until November 2021, one month before she was set to be released from prison, to collect a biopsy.

Balfour’s medical concerns began as early as 2011 when she received a mammogram at the prison. Her doctor explained that her mammogram showed “benign appearing … microcalcifications in both breasts.” It was recommended that she follow up in one year for additional screening. However, medical service contractors did not schedule her screening until January 2015. A follow-up appointment was never scheduled despite Balfour’s complaints of pain, tenderness, and “lumps” in her breasts.

In January 2016, Balfour underwent another mammogram with a different MDOC healthcare provider, Centurion. During that screening, she was told that there was an increase in the number of calcifications, and a six-month follow-up was scheduled. Again, Balfour says it would be over two years before she would be seen again. She would allegedly continue receiving inadequate care following subsequent mammogram screenings in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

After leaving the correction facility in January 2022, Balfour was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer when she went to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for medical care.

Andrew Tominello, one of Bafour’s lawyers, stated, “They delayed over and over again, and they should not be able to get away with that.” Tominello adds if Balfour’s sister-in-law had not kept the pressure on her behalf, “they would have probably tried to sweep it under the rug and hope that she passed away”.

Balfour argues that the prison healthcare system deliberately waited to give her medical care that could have potentially saved her life.

In an interview with reporters last week, Balfour shares, “I want to hold them accountable for what they’ve done to me.” She adds, “Being alone in there, I feared I was going to die, because I’ve seen so many others dying from not being able to get the proper care they needed.”

Balfour’s lawsuit is seeking a jury trial along with compensatory, punitive, nominal, and other damages.