Centre County settles for $125K with woman who sued over medical care at jail
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Centre County's insurer paid $125K to settle inmate medical care lawsuit.
- Judge ruled county holds liability despite outsourcing to PrimeCare Medical.
- PrimeCare faces multiple lawsuits; Centre County contract expires Dec. 31.
Centre County’s insurer agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a woman who alleged she did not receive appropriate medical care while she was incarcerated at the county’s jail.
Few other details were available in the heavily redacted settlement the Centre Daily Times obtained Friday through a Right-to-Know request. It was signed Aug. 11, the same day a U.S. magistrate judge OK’d the lawsuit’s dismissal.
Jessica Tressler, 35, of Centre Hall, claimed she was subjected to “abhorrent” conditions and “shameful” actions by corrections officers and medical staff during her 17-day stay at the jail in April 2022. She was in the facility for a probation violation.
Complications prompted her to be flown by medical helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where she underwent emergency heart surgery and was hospitalized for nearly four months.
Tressler was not properly treated for opiate withdrawal and a urinary tract infection, attorney Brian Zeiger wrote in the lawsuit. Instead, he said she was labeled a “drug-seeking faker.”
She had “severely elevated” blood pressure and complained of back and kidney pain, but Zeiger said she received little or no medical care. At one point, she was found unconscious and was revived using smelling salts, Zieger wrote. She said in the lawsuit that she told staff she could not feel her legs and “begged” to go to the hospital.
During her brief stay, Tressler claimed she missed about 30 meals because she could not get out of bed and was left sitting in feces for five hours after requesting help.
Once she was transported to Mount Nittany Medical Center, Zeiger said she was diagnosed with internal bleeding, septic shock, a blood infection, pneumonia and endocarditis in two heart valves.
She was placed on a ventilator and ultimately had open heart surgery at Geisinger Medical Center to replace the two valves. She had a second heart surgery due to an infection, Zeiger wrote.
She had sought $25 million.
Centre County outsources medical care at the jail to PrimeCare Medical, a provider based in the Harrisburg area. The county’s five-year contract with PrimeCare was approved by the commissioners in 2021. It pays the company about $1.2 million this year.
The county sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab rejected that argument in December. In a 47-page ruling, she said the county has a constitutional obligation to provide care.
“Centre County may also be suggesting that because it contracted with PrimeCare to provide medical care, it cannot be liable,” Schwab wrote. “If that is what it is suggesting, it is wrong.”
PrimeCare has been named in dozens of federal lawsuits since 2021, many of which allege the company was negligent in providing care to people while they were incarcerated. Centre County’s contract with PrimeCare is set to expire Dec. 31.
It was not immediately clear how the county plans to move forward with medical care at its jail. The county said Tuesday that substantive conversations will be had in the “near future” during budget season.
Dauphin and York counties ended their decades-long relationships with PrimeCare earlier this year, while Lehigh County’s decision-makers signed a new agreement — though it was not unanimous.
This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 12:43 PM.