05:38 PM PST on Wednesday, March 3, 2004

By DEBORAH FELDMAN / KING 5 News

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. - Sixteen-year old Trish describes her mother Toni Mersereau as her best friend.

"She was really fun. Really, really outgoing. Always had something for us to do," said Trish.

Toni was a youthful and caring woman who would take in neighborhood kids when they had nowhere else to go.

"There was always more than six, seven kids at my house. And we lived in an apartment. For as long as I can remember every last one of my friends would come over and say 'hey mom! How are you?' Everybody loved her. She was everybody's mom," said Trish.

But Toni had her troubles - arrests for crimes like theft and forgery, and an addiction to prescription pills.

KING Toni Mersereau

On Oct. 22 of last year, she was sent to Skagit County Jail for a probation violation, but she died within weeks.

Attorney Breean Beggs, who was hired by Toni's family, notes that Toni had started feeling sick and was quick to let people know through the jail's sick-call request forms.

"Toni made good use of the internal complaint system, and she wrote in her own words and her own handwriting," said Beggs.

The jail accommodated her first few requests and gave her a new inhaler for her asthma and medicine to help her sleep. She noted that she did have insurance and could pay for all assistance given.

But soon the tone changed.

"I'm very ill. I'm stuffy, sore throat, cough and headache. My ears hurt. Please could I get some cold medicine. I've never been sick like this in jail before," she wrote.

After Oct. 30, there was nothing in the jail forms that shows any response to her continued requests.

"I'm truly sorry to bother you again, but I started coughing up blood. I kept the towel to show in case I am not believed. I'm very scared now. I don't think this could be very good," she wrote.

On another form, she wrote "Please help me. I've been sick for days and now I can't breathe. I need to go to the hospital for breathing treatment and medicine."

Beggs said there was no response.

Her notes got more desperate: "I can't breathe … Help me. Please."

On the second to last day of her sentence, a doctor saw her.

On Nov. 5, the day Toni was supposed to have finished her jail sentence and re-appear in drug court, she was instead, brought to the Skagit Valley Hospital in the back of a deputy's vehicle. Eight-and-a-half hours later, she was dead.

The coroner's report says Toni died from staph pneumonia.

"Toni is 35 years old. There's no way she should ever die of pneumonia. The only reason she died of pneumonia is she was locked in jail, could not get medical care. That's the only reason," said Beggs.

Skagit County Jail officials said the pending lawsuit prevents them from commenting or releasing any of their own notes about Toni's health. But attorney Beggs says the law is clear: Jails have a legal and ethical responsibility to maintain the health of inmates while they're behind bars.

"In jail, people have a presumption that prisoners are not telling the truth, they're making things up, they're whiners. They want special treatment, and sometimes that's true, but when you're dealing with someone's medical issues, you really need to go the extra mile and really check it," he said.

Today, Toni's daughters struggle to understand why their mother died of a very curable illness.

"Yeah, really hard. It's just hard for me to wake up every morning thinking she's gone," said Trish.

Toni's survivors have just completed the paperwork for a notice of claim to Skagit County, the first step in pressing a lawsuit. That notice will be filed by the end of the week.