Edrosa v. Chau

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedSeptember 11, 2020
Docket3:19-cv-00088
StatusUnknown

This text of Edrosa v. Chau (Edrosa v. Chau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edrosa v. Chau, (S.D. Cal. 2020).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 BERNARDO EDROSA, Case No.: 19cv88-CAB-MDD 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 13 v. DISMISS FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT [Doc. No. 51] 14 DR., JOHN K. CHAU, 15 Defendant. 16 17 Pending before the Court is Defendants’ motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s First 18 Amended Complaint. [Doc. No. 51.] For the reasons set forth below, the motion is 19 GRANTED. 20 PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 21 On January 12, 2019, Plaintiff filed a complaint under the Civil Rights Act 42 22 U.S.C. §1983 against Defendants J. Chau, California Department of Corrections and 23 Rehabilitation, erroneously sued as Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, California 24 Correctional Health Care Services, G. Casian, P. Jayasundara, and F. Sedighi. [Doc. No. 25 1.] On April 29, 2019, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the original complaint. 26 [Doc. No. 11.] On July 2, 2019, Plaintiff filed a motion for leave to file an amended 27 complaint. On July 5, 2019, the Court granted Plaintiff’s motion for leave to file an 28 1 amended complaint [Doc. No. 18], and the motion to dismiss the original complaint 2 became moot. 3 On January 13, 2020, Plaintiff filed the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) [Doc. 4 No. 30.] On May 29, 2020, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the FAC. [Doc. No. 5 51.] On July 6, 2020, Plaintiff filed an opposition. [Doc. No. 53.] On July 14, 2020, 6 Defendants filed a reply to the opposition. [Doc. No. 54.] 7 ALLEGATIONS OF FAC 8 I. TREATMENT IN 2008 AT WASCO STATE PRISON 9 Plaintiff was diagnosed with hepatitis C on May 7, 2008. (Doc. No. 30, FAC, at 10 17, ¶ 23.) CDCR has set forth certain criteria that medical staff must follow with regard 11 to the treatment of hepatitis C. (Id. at 17-18, ¶¶ 25, 26.)1 Therefore, even though Plaintiff 12 wanted treatment for his hepatitis C, it was not permitted under the criteria in place. (Id. 13 at 17, 28, ¶¶ 25, 64.) Furthermore, “this criteria prohibits employed doctors from ordering 14 hep C treatment even if that is what they want to do,” because inmates must receive “pre- 15 approval” for treatment by an “oversight committee prior to beginning treatment.” (Id.) 16 Plaintiff’s condition was monitored with blood work at Wasco State Prison. (Id. at 17, ¶ 17 25.) 18 II. TREATMENT FROM 2009 TO 2013 AT KERN VALLEY STATE PRISON 19 In 2009, Plaintiff again requested treatment for his hepatitis C. (FAC at ¶¶ 17- 18, 20 26.) He also wanted an MRI, cat scan, ultra sound, and a liver biopsy because he had 21 abnormal blood work. (Id.) These requests were denied. 22 In 2011, Plaintiff had a liver biopsy, and was diagnosed with stage 1 fibrosis. (FAC 23 at 18, ¶ 28.) At that time, Plaintiff’s “blood levels were off ALT 86.0 and 84.0 (normal 24 30-65), Bilirubin 1.75 and 1.99 (normal 0.2 – 1.5), Alpha Fetoprotein tumor marker 8.7 25 26 27 1 Defendants’ Request for Judicial Notice (“RJN”) [Doc. No. 51 at 11, nn. 2, 3] is GRANTED pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 201. It is the CCHCS, not the CDCR, that promulgates the criteria for treatment of 28 1 (normal 43).” (FAC at 19, ¶ 31.) Plaintiff continued to fail to meet the treatment criteria, 2 and did not qualify for further testing. (Id.) 3 III. TREATMENT FROM 2013 TO CURRENT AT DONOVAN 4 At Donovan, Plaintiff was referred to Defendant Jayasundare, a nurse practitioner 5 specializing in hepatitis C, and treated with him from 2014 to 2018. (FAC at 19, 23, ¶¶ 6 33, 49.) Plaintiff complained about his symptoms at each visit, and told Jayasundara that 7 “the doctors refused to treat plaintiff for his Hep C unless it was recommended by 8 Jayasundara.” (Id.) Jayasundara told Plaintiff there were very strict criteria for the 9 treatment of hepatitis C put in place by an oversight committee. (Id. at 24, ¶ 51.) 10 Jayasundara said that the decision to treat inmates with hepatitis C was not done on an 11 individual basis, but based on a number of criteria that an inmate had to meet to even be 12 considered for treatment. (Id.) He also told Plaintiff that inmates who used drugs, or were 13 expected to use drugs, including alcohol, could be denied treatment. (Id. at 24, ¶ 52.) 14 Plaintiff continued to request treatment. On January 16, 2014, Plaintiff told 15 Defendant Dr. Chau that he would like treatment for his hepatitis C, and identified 16 tiredness, uncontrollable itching, and stomach pains “over or near his liver” as symptoms. 17 (Id. at 19-20, ¶ 34.) Dr. Chau denied Plaintiff’s request, stating he did not meet the 18 criteria for treatment. (Id.) 19 On August 20, 2015 and April 11, 2016, Plaintiff saw Defendant Dr. Casian. At 20 that time, Plaintiff had a viral load number of over 12,000,000. (FAC at 21, ¶ 42.) 21 Plaintiff asked Dr. Casian for treatment, including a new liver biopsy since the last results 22 were from 2011, and he “feared and felt” his liver condition was “much worse.” (Id.) Dr. 23 Casian stated she could not order treatment, and the referral would need to come from the 24 hepatitis C specialist. (Id.) Dr. Casian allegedly told Plaintiff he should change his ways 25 because it was his “low life drug use that was going to kill him and he should have 26 learned his lesson by now.” (FAC at 22, ¶ 45.) 27 Defendant Dr. Sedighi began treating Plaintiff in 2017, and refused to order any 28 treatment until an ultrasound was ordered on November 20, 2017. (Id. at 25- 26, ¶ 58.) 1 After that ultrasound, Plaintiff began receiving treatment for hepatitis C, but he already 2 had cirrhosis of the liver. (Id. at 26-27, ¶ 60.) 3 Plaintiff alleges CDCR’s practice of having an oversight committee determine 4 which inmates with hepatitis C can be referred for treatment discriminates against 5 inmates with the disease, and drug users. (FAC. At 28, ¶ 64.) He argues it therefore 6 violates the ADA and RA. (Id., at 28, ¶ 65.) 7 Plaintiff believes he should have been treated in accordance with the 8 recommendations found in the book “Hepatitis & Liver Disease, authored by Dr. Melissa 9 Palmer, an internationally renowned hepatolist,” and that if Defendants had followed Dr. 10 Palmer’s recommendations, he would not have developed cirrhosis. (FAC at 18019, ¶ 11 29.) Dr. Palmer’s recommendations include: (1) treating hepatitis C with interferon “to 12 stop or slow the progression of the disease before any liver related complications 13 develop.” (Id.); and (2) performing liver biopsies more frequently because “a liver biopsy 14 that is 3 to 5 years old is worthless.” (Id. at 22, ¶ 47.) 15 LEGAL STANDARD 16 Under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party may move to 17 dismiss a complaint for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” A 18 court may dismiss “based on the lack of cognizable legal theory or the absence of 19 sufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory.” Balistreri v. Pacifica Police 20 Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir.1990). 21 Although a complaint need contain only “a short and plain statement of the claim 22 showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” (Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2)), in order to survive a 23 motion to dismiss this short and plain statement “must contain sufficient factual matter … 24 to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 25 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v.

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Edrosa v. Chau, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edrosa-v-chau-casd-2020.