Lawyers for prisoners suing Corizon Health over allegedly substandard medical care in U.S. prisons have asked a bankruptcy judge to toss the chapter 11 case of a Corizon subsidiary, saying the prison healthcare provider's bankruptcy was a fraud from the start, Reuters reported. The Corizon subsidiary, Tehum Care, was created solely to get rid of medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuits for "pennies on the dollar" through the chapter 11 process, while allowing Corizon to rebrand itself as YesCare, according to a Tuesday filing in Houston bankruptcy court by the official tort committee that represents about 200 prisoners, former prisoners, and family members suing Corizon. Tehum does not intend to reorganize its business, and is instead using its bankruptcy to stop lawsuits against Corizon, its owners and key employees, according to the committee. "There is no possible rehabilitation here," the committee said in the filing. "This case was a fraud from its inception." Tehum Care, which filed for bankruptcy in February, has been pursuing a mediated bankruptcy settlement which would allocate roughly $8.5 million to settle prisoners' and former prisoners' claims.
