MA city agrees to settlement for death of woman, 30, in custody [Video]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A Massachusetts city will pay a $900,000 settlement to the family of a Vermont woman who died in police custody to settle a lawsuit over authorities’ failure to provide adequate medical care.

The Springfield City Council voted Monday to approve the settlement in the case of Madelyn Linsenmeir, a 30-year-old mother whose obituary drew national attention for its candid and heartbreaking discussion of opioid addiction.

Linsenmeir’s family sued the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, saying law enforcement officials ignored Linsenmeir’s pleas for help before she died of an infected heart valve.

Her obituary was shared widely for its direct mention of her struggle with drug addiction, encouraging readers to see addiction as a disease and “not a choice or a weakness.”

It urged workers in rehabilitation settings, hospitals, jails and courts to …