A doctor who previously faced criminal charges for the death of an inmate at the Las Colinas jail in Santee has agreed to surrender her medical license.
Friederike Von Lintig's license had already been suspended, but medical board disciplinary documents dated earlier this month indicate her agreement to the license surrender, which will be effective this Friday.
Von Lintig had faced an accusation from the Medical Board of California that she "committed gross negligence" in her treatment of 24-year- old Elisa Serna, who died in the jail's medical observation unit on Nov. 11, 2019.
Von Lintig was previously charged with involuntary manslaughter in Serna's death, but an El Cajon jury could not agree on whether to convict or acquit her. Prosecutors later dismissed the case against her. Jurors also acquitted a jail nurse, Danalee Pascua, of involuntary manslaughter.
Serna, identified as Patient A in the medical board's accusation, was suffering from symptoms of drug and alcohol withdrawal during the time she was in custody.
The medical board faulted Von Lintig for "failing to appropriately medically manage" Serna's condition as a pregnant patient going through active withdrawal, and for not performing "an appropriate physical exam, work-up, and plan of treatment" following two incidents on Nov. 11 when Von Lintig was informed that Serna was undergoing medical distress.
The accusation states that after seeing Serna that morning, Von Lintig incorrectly noted in Serna's chart that she had finished treatment for alcohol and heroin withdrawal and did not perform a physical exam after Serna complained of frequent vomiting.
That afternoon, when Serna experienced what her family and prosecutors say was a seizure, Von Lintig concluded Serna had not experienced a "true seizure, but she was unable to exclude a medical cause for the patient's weakness and fainting spells."
During another seizure that afternoon, Von Lintig allegedly watched Serna for a few moments on a video monitor, but did not evaluate her and instead left the jail for the day.
Serna's mother, Paloma Serna, said she and her family were "pleased" to hear Von Lintig would be surrendering her license.
"Knowing that she will never cause harm, or another death of a person is a great relief. The community is a little bit safer now. My daughter Elisa deserved better medical treatment but was denied it," she said.
The surrendering of Von Lintig's license comes about a month after the medical board revoked the license of another jail doctor, Carol Ann Gilmore, for her treatment of Serna.
Serna's death also led to a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by her family.
San Diego County and one of its health care contractors settled the civil suit earlier this year and agreed to pay $15 million to Serna's family. The settlement included a series of non-monetary terms, which mandate the county to institute a series of reforms aimed at improving training for county jail personnel and revise protocols for inmates receiving medical care.
