KENT, Wash. — The estate of Rena Flaherty alleges in a federal lawsuit that the City of Kent and its jail medical provider failed to treat her opioid withdrawal before she died in a Kent jail cell in April 2025.
The complaint, filed May 8 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, names the City of Kent, Healthcare Delivery Systems, and HDS CEO Shannon Slack as defendants.
Flaherty was booked into the City of Kent Corrections Facility on misdemeanor warrants on April 19, 2025, according to the lawsuit and an Unexpected Fatality Review Committee Report. The report was prepared by the Kent Police Department Corrections Division and filed with the state on August 15, 2025…