SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The state medical board restored the license of a doctor whose former company was at the center of KARE 11’s Investigation into numerous preventable deaths in Minnesota jails.
The board had indefinitely suspended the license of Todd Leonard in January 2022 after finding the death of a Beltrami Jail inmate “should never have occurred. And it must never be allowed to happen again.”
The board reinstated Leonard’s license on Nov. 18 with the restrictions that he can only practice in a pre-approved group setting, and that he cannot be the medical director of any entity.
Leonard’s patient charts will also be randomly audited after six months of practice. He can re-apply for an unconditional license in two years.
Leonard’s former company, MEnD Correctional Care, was at one time the largest health care provider for jails in the state, overseeing the medical care of thousands of inmates.
A KARE 11 Investigation found numerous inmates who died in jails where MEnD provided the health care, including many deaths that appeared to be preventable.
Among those: Hardel Sherrell’s in Beltrami County in 2018, whose pleas for help were often ignored by jail and medical staff who wrongly believed he was faking. A private autopsy revealed he was suffering from a rare but treatable condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that causes the body's immune system to attack the nerves.
In 2021, Leonard’s care of Sherrell went before administrative law judge Ann O’Reilly, who found:
- Leonard failed to send Sherrell to an emergency room in a timely manner when his patient first became seriously sick at the jail.
- Leonard failed to even ask his staff to do a basic assessment or get his patient’s vital signs in the days before he died.
- Leonard failed to get Sherrell to a hospital before he died “when such care was surely needed.”
O’Reilly said Leonard “in attempting to defend the indefensible,” blamed his staff for giving him inaccurate or incomplete information about Sherrell.
“The resulting harm … was the tragic suffering and death of a young man,” O’Reilly wrote. “For these violations, disciplinary action is not only warranted, but it is in the public interest to prevent a tragedy like this from ever occurring.”
A former MEnD nurse practitioner who treated Sherrell and was one of the few who tried to get him help before he died, lodged a complaint against Leonard with the medical board. “I felt like I witnessed a murder,” Stephanie Lundblad told KARE 11.
Sherrell’s mother, Del Shea Perry, learned Tuesday about the board decision allowing Leonard to return to practice.
“I’m just crushed, dumbfounded. I just don’t understand it,” Perry said.
MEnD filed for bankruptcy in late 2022 and is no longer operating.
Meanwhile, state authorities are still investigating whether any of Sherrell’s care providers should be charged with a crime.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension began investigating the case in March 2022, then turned its findings over to Beltrami County attorney David Hanson in August.
Citing the complexities of the case and concerns over a potential conflict of interest, Hanson sent the case to private attorneys to review for potential charges.
After that review was completed, in February 2023, Hanson requested Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office help decide whether any of Hardel’s caregivers will be charged with a crime.
At the time, Ellison gave no timetable on the charging decision, saying in a statement, “review of the voluminous file is expected to take time.”
When asked about the delay in a charging decision on the case in August, Ellison said in a statement:
“Hardel’s death 5 years ago was a tragedy. My thoughts once again are with his mother, who has advocated for him tirelessly, and all who loved him. My office and I continue to investigate.”
In addition to the lengthy delay in a criminal charging decision, the Minnesota Board of Nursing has failed to take any public action against the jail nurse who directly witnessed Sherrell’s declining condition and did not even bother to take his vitals.
The administrative law judge in Dr. Leonard’s case that resulted in his medical license being taken away also called for the Board of Nursing to investigate the nurse’s “dereliction of duty and shocking indifference.”
The nurse’s license remains active, according to online records.
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