Carvell Jordan v. Gibson

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedOctober 21, 2024
Docket23-30252
StatusUnpublished

This text of Carvell Jordan v. Gibson (Carvell Jordan v. Gibson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carvell Jordan v. Gibson, (5th Cir. 2024).

Opinion

Case: 23-30252 Document: 51-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/21/2024

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

FILED ____________ October 21, 2024 No. 23-30252 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk

Gretel Ann Carvell Jordan, on behalf of minor children H. A. A. W. and Z. M. W., on behalf of Misty Dawn Carvell Estate,

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus

K. P. Gibson, individually and in his official capacity; Laura Breaux, individually and in her official capacity,

Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana USDC No. 6:20-CV-1285 ______________________________

Before Higginbotham, Higginson, and Duncan, Circuit Judges. Stephen A. Higginson, Circuit Judge: * This is an appeal from a grant of qualified immunity, on summary judgment, to Defendants-Appellees K.P. Gibson and Laura Breaux (“Appellees”), whom Gretel Ann Carvell Jordan (“Appellant”) sued as a result of her daughter’s death by suicide after she was placed in lockdown at the Acadia Parish Jail (“APJ”) in 2019. Because Appellant’s § 1983 and tort _____________________ * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 23-30252 Document: 51-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 10/21/2024

No. 23-30252

law claims hinge on a plaintiff demonstrating that a defendant official had knowledge of a risk of suicide and disregarded that knowledge—and Appellant fails to make that showing here—we AFFIRM. I. Misty Carvell was arrested on September 27, 2019, for shoplifting at a Walmart and resisting arrest. She was arrested by the Crowley Police Department and then taken to the Acadia General Hospital for evaluation. In her complaint, Appellant alleges that Misty was taken to the hospital because she was “exhibiting signs of seizures and other symptoms of depression.” According to her medical records from Acadia General Hospital, Misty was taken into triage at 9:03 P.M. after Crowley police officers brought her to the hospital because she “‘started to have a seizure’ after fighting with police” in front of the Walmart. Misty arrived at the hospital “shaking [her] head only and speaking in [an] extremely slurred voice,” and her treating physician noted that she had “facial redness” and an “abrasion to [her] right knee” due to her fight with the police. He further remarked that Misty falsely claimed she was 4-5 months pregnant, as she had done during a visit two months prior, even though she received negative pregnancy tests on both visits. The doctor also noted Misty’s admitted history of pseudoseizures and that she had recently been seen for the same “pseudo-epileptic seizures.” 1

_____________________ 1 Misty had been treated at the Acadia General Hospital on multiple other occasions for her seizures, including September 18, 2019, February 20, 2019, and August 4, 2016. Appellees’ medical expert opined that “Dr. Baesler documented that the seizure- like episodes Ms. Carvell displayed in the Acadia Hospital ED were not consistent with real seizures” because she was not prevented from speaking during them. According to some medical literature, however, “pseudoseizure” does not refer to a fake seizure; “‘psuedoseizure’ is a now-outmoded term for paroxysmal events that appear to be epileptic seizures but do not arise from the abnormal excessive synchronous cortical

2 Case: 23-30252 Document: 51-1 Page: 3 Date Filed: 10/21/2024

During her September 27, 2019 visit, Misty tested positive for MDMA, marijuana, amphetamines, and her prescription barbiturates. 2 The record of her physical exam noted of her psychiatric state: “[c]ooperative, appropriate mood & affect, normal judgment.” Her clinical summary lists “Diagnoses This Visit” as “[m]edical problem – minor,” “[n]oncompliance,” “[p]olysubstance abuse,” and “[p]seudoseizures,” followed by a longer list of “[a]ctive” problems: hypertension, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, “[s]eizures drug-induced,” suicidal ideation, major depression, amphetamine abuse, marijuana abuse, cocaine abuse, and methamphetamine abuse. The doctor who examined Misty wrote that the Crowley Police Department brought her to the hospital “requesting us to clear patient for incarceration.” She was medically cleared and discharged to the police at 10:17 P.M. on September 27, 2019. The hospital provided her with educational materials on substance use disorders and a standard discharge note, and she was instructed to follow up with a primary care provider within one to two days. According to the declaration of Warden Jody Thibeaux, APJ records indicate that the Crowley police officers transported Misty to APJ on September 28, 2019. In her APJ intake form, dated 11:25 P.M. on September 28, 2019, Misty responded “yes” to each of the following questions: “Do you have any medical problems that need to be known during _____________________ activity that defines an epileptic seizure.” J. Stephen Huff et al., Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures, in StatPearls, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441871/ (last updated Feb. 25, 2024). However, the assertion by Appellees is that, while in APJ, Misty did fake a seizure so that she could have a phone call. In his incident report, medic Jon-Michael Guidry indicated that Misty was known for this behavior: “She has history of faking seizures immediately upon coming into jail.” 2 Misty was prescribed phenobarbital, a barbiturate, for her seizures.

3 Case: 23-30252 Document: 51-1 Page: 4 Date Filed: 10/21/2024

incarceration?”; “Are you prescribed any medications or use medications?”; and “Do you use alcohol or street drugs?” On the same form, transporting officer Chad Hargrave had, at around 11:25 P.M., answered “no” to the question, “To your knowledge, has this arrestee used alcohol or drugs (prescription/narcotics/street drugs)?” In the section of the form filled out by the receiving officer, Raven Racca, Racca indicated that Misty did not lose consciousness, did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, was not exhibiting behavior that “indicated[d] the danger or risk of suicidal behavior,” and did not have any skin traumas marking drug use or obvious injuries or illnesses. On September 30, 2019, Misty underwent an “Inmate Visual Assessment” in which an APJ deputy checked off “N[o]” answers for “Inmate appears to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” “Visible signs of drug or alcohol withdrawal,” “Inmate’s behavior suggests the risk of suicide or assault,” and “Inmate appears to have psychiatric problems.” That same day, Misty saw another physician, who noted that her medical history included “pseudoseizures.” The record indicated that she used substances—“[m]eth, [m]arijuana, Subutex”—but marked her mental status as “appropriate.” The most complete account of the lead-up to Misty’s death came from Deputy Jon-Michael Guidry, an EMT at the jail who interacted with her multiple times in the day before her suicide. In an incident report dated October 4, 2019, Guidry wrote that on October 1, he was called to respond to a report of a woman having a seizure. Upon arriving to the prisoner’s cell with a Sergeant Theriot, he wrote, Misty “immediately stopped ‘seizing’ and asked for a phone call.” According to Guidry, he told her that he would give her a phone call when he had time. Later in the evening, at around 6:30 P.M., he responded to another seizure report in Misty’s cell. He wrote that he took her to his office to evaluate her, and he found that she had normal

4 Case: 23-30252 Document: 51-1 Page: 5 Date Filed: 10/21/2024

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