Davis v. City of Phila.

284 F. Supp. 3d 744
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 5, 2018
DocketCIVIL ACTION No. 17–1381
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 284 F. Supp. 3d 744 (Davis v. City of Phila.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. City of Phila., 284 F. Supp. 3d 744 (E.D. Pa. 2018).

Opinion

McHUGH, United States District Judge

Like all people who have not been found guilty of a crime, pre-trial detainees have a constitutional right to be free from punishment. This case concerns one facet of that right: detainees' right to adequate medical care, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment's substantive due process clause. Following an auto accident in which Plaintiff Aimee Davis broke her wrist, Philadelphia police arrested her and transported *746her to the hospital. Plaintiff was discharged with instructions from Emergency Room personnel that she needed urgent attention from an orthopedic specialist. Plaintiff remained in custody for six weeks before she received the recommended care, and by the time surgery was ultimately performed, a malunion of the bones allegedly prevented a successful outcome. She contends that she is permanently disfigured as a result, and brings claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Philadelphia, Riverside Correctional Facility's medical provider and medical staff, and several police officers. She also brings medical malpractice claims against Riverside's individual medical staffers.

Motions to Dismiss by Defendants City of Philadelphia and Dr. Jonathan Cohen are pending. Because Plaintiff has pled facts sufficient to support an inference that the inadequate medical care she received amounted to punishment under the Fourteenth Amendment, and because such deprivation could potentially be attributed to the City under Monell , I deny the City's Motion, except as to claims based on vicarious liability. See Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs. of New York , 436 U.S. 658, 691-95, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978). I likewise deny Dr. Cohen's Motion because Plaintiff has stated claims against him for direct § 1983 liability and medical malpractice.1

I. Factual Allegations

Plaintiff's relevant factual allegations, separated from her legal conclusions and taken as true, are as follows. Plaintiff broke her wrist (a left distal radius fracture ) in a car accident on October 16, 2015. In connection with the accident, Philadelphia police arrested Plaintiff and took her to the hospital for emergency treatment. Hospital staff determined that her wrist bones were displaced and needed to be realigned, but their two attempts to align the bones were unsuccessful. The hospital informed Plaintiff and the arresting officers (in whose custody she remained) that the fracture was "unstable"2 and in need of surgical repair, and that she needed to see an orthopedic specialist within two days. FAC ¶¶ 25-27. The next day, October 17th, the hospital released Plaintiff and gave her discharge documentation to the police officers.

From the hospital, police transported Plaintiff to Riverside Correctional Facility, where medical staff, including Dr. Jonathan Cohen, conducted a medical intake screening as part of her initial processing.3 Plaintiff alleges that the police officers did not relay her urgent need for specialist *747care to Riverside staff or take any other action to ensure she received the specialist treatment they knew she needed for her injured wrist. FAC ¶¶ 32-34. Riverside's health intake process required Plaintiff to complete an Intake Screening Questionnaire [hereinafter the "Intake Form"] that asked whether she had any "life threatening medical problems" but did not ask if she had a serious (but not life-threatening) medical need or if she had been prescribed any medical treatment, or request a description of her current conditions. FAC ¶ 36.

From the time of her arrival at Riverside on October 17th to her transfer to another correctional facility (SCI Muncy) on October 22nd, Plaintiff complained to Dr. Cohen and other Riverside medical staff of her "significant and unbearable pain and swelling" and repeatedly asked to see a specialist for her fracture, as the hospital had instructed. FAC ¶¶ 67-68. Plaintiff received over-the-counter pain medication ("Motrin, only"), but was not allowed to see a specialist. FAC ¶ 68. On October 21st-Plaintiff's fifth day at Riverside and one day before her transfer to SCI Muncy-Dr. Cohen noted in a progress report that Plaintiff had been told to consult an orthopedic surgeon and, in the "treatment" section of the report, he wrote "refer to temple orthopedics." The next day, sometime after the decision to transfer Plaintiff to SCI Muncy but before her actual transfer, Dr. Cohen "ordered an x-ray" of her wrist. FAC ¶¶ 44-45. But neither the x-ray nor the Temple Orthopedics referral happened, and Plaintiff was transferred to SCI Muncy later that day.

Dr. Cohen completed a summary "in connection with" Plaintiff's transfer to SCI Muncy [hereinafter the "Transfer Summary"]. FAC ¶ 47. Like the Intake Form, the Transfer Summary did not include questions about whether Plaintiff had serious medical needs or had been prescribed medical treatment that she had not yet received. Id. The Transfer Summary asked whether Plaintiff had any recent hospitalizations and if there were any consults pending, but in response to both questions, Dr. Cohen (or another Riverside medical staffer) incorrectly answered "no." FAC ¶¶ 49-50. Riverside medical staff wrote "lower bunk & tier left arm fx" in the comments section, presumably identifying Plaintiff's fracture and that she should be assigned a bottom bunk at her destination facility. FAC ¶ 51. Nowhere did Dr. Cohen indicate that Plaintiff's fracture was unstable, awaiting surgery, or that Plaintiff was "already days overdue" to be seen by a specialist and have surgery. Id. Dr. Cohen and the medical staffers did not send Plaintiff's medical records-either from Riverside or the hospital-on to SCI Muncy.4

*748After Plaintiff's transfer to SCI Muncy with nothing in her transfer records to indicate her urgent need for specialist care, she continued to complain of severe pain and swelling and to request the surgery she needed. It was not until November 24th that Plaintiff was finally allowed to see a surgeon-nearly six weeks after her discharge from the hospital. The specialist recommended surgery, which Plaintiff underwent six days later. By then, her wrist had begun to heal in an in improper position, which "complicat[ed] the surgery and worsen[ed] her recovery." FAC ¶ 73. Plaintiff then underwent a second surgery and received continuing orthopedic supervision and physical therapy.

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Bluebook (online)
284 F. Supp. 3d 744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-city-of-phila-paed-2018.