ST. JOSEPH — A judge is refusing to dismiss several medical workers and Missouri sheriff's department employees from a lawsuit alleging that improper medical care contributed to the death of an inmate soon after he was sent to prison.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports that Brenda Davis, has been pursuing legal action over the 2015 death of her son, Justin Stufflebean after he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for statutory rape.

Among the defendants who weren't granted summary judgement in the federal case was a deputy who is accused of failing to share with Buchanan County Jail workers that Stufflebean had Addison's disease and needed medication for the life-threatening disorder. The suit says Stufflebean missed doses of his medication from Oct. 26 to Oct. 29, 2015, while he was at the jail, and after he was sent to the Missouri Western Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center.

He was at the prison only two days when he went into cardiac and respiratory arrest. He died on Nov. 16, 2015.

While Judge Nanette Laughrey also denied dismissal requests from some of the medical workers involved in his care, she found that others attempted to help and dropped them from the litigation.