Jenkins v. Centurion Health Care Services

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Tennessee
DecidedJuly 2, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-02498
StatusUnknown

This text of Jenkins v. Centurion Health Care Services (Jenkins v. Centurion Health Care Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jenkins v. Centurion Health Care Services, (W.D. Tenn. 2025).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE WESTERN DIVISION

) ERIC T. JENKINS, ) ) Petitioner, ) ) v. ) Case No. 2:24-cv-02498-SHM-tmp ) CENTURION HEALTHCARE SERVICES, ) ET AL., ) ) Defendants. ) )

ORDER DISMISSING THE CONSOLIDATED COMPLAINT (ECF NOS. 1, 7, 10, 11 & 12); GRANTING LEAVE TO AMEND THE CLAIMS DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE; DENYING REQUESTS FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF (ECF NOS. 6 & 9); DENYING MOTION FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT (ECF NO. 8) AND DIRECTING CLERK TO MODIFY THE DOCKET _____________________________________________________________________________ On July 15, 2024, Plaintiff, Eric T. Jenkins, Tennessee Department of Corrections (“TDOC”) prisoner number 627290, filed a pro se complaint (the “Complaint”) pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (ECF No. 1) and a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (ECF No. 3). When Jenkins filed the Complaint, he was confined at the West Tennessee State Penitentiary (the “WTSP”), in Henning, Tennessee. On July 30, 2024, the Court granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis and assessed the three hundred and fifty dollar ($350.00) civil filing fee pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915, et seq. (the “PLRA”). (ECF No. 5 (the “IFP Order”).) On September 9, 2024, Jenkins filed a motion for injunctive relief. (ECF No. 6.) On September 25, 2024, Jenkins filed an amended complaint. (ECF No. 7.) On December 9, 2024, Jenkins filed a motion for default judgment (ECF No. 8) and a motion for emergency injunctive relief (ECF No. 9.) On March 12, 2025, Jenkins filed an attachment to amended complaint. (ECF No. 10.) On March 25, 2025, Jenkins filed a second attachment to amended complaint (ECF No. 11.) On May 16, 2025, Jenkins filed a third attachment to complaint (ECF No. 12). The Court CONSOLIDATES the Complaint (ECF No. 1), the amended complaint (ECF No. 7), the attachment (ECF No. 10), the second attachment (ECF No. 11), and the third attachment

(ECF No. 12) as the “Consolidated Complaint” for the purpose of screening Jenkins’ claims pursuant to the PLRA. The Consolidated Complaint addresses Jenkins’ claims about his medical treatment during his incarceration at WTSP. (ECF Nos. 1, 7, 10, 11 & 12 at PageID 5-22, 62-63, 71-75, 82-84, 88- 210.) The majority of the Consolidated Complaint’s claims are based on events between January 2024 and March 2025. (See id.) The Consolidated Complaint is liberally construed to allege claims of: (1) deprivation or denial of medical care; (2) failure to follow TDOC policy; and (3) supplemental state law claims. (ECF Nos. 1, 7 & 10 at PageID 5-22, 62-63, 71-75.) Jenkins sues: (1) Centurion Health Care Services (“Centurion”); (2) Alisa Hurdle, Centurion Nurse and Healthcare Administrator; (3) Dr. Rich, Centurion Doctor at WTSP; (4) Dr. Nguyen, Centurion

Doctor at WTSP; (5) f/n/u Longmire, Centurion Nurse Practitioner; (6) April l/n/u, Centurion Nurse (collectively, the “Centurion Defendants”); (7) TDOC; (8) L. R. Thomas, TDOC Assistant Commissioner; and (9) WTSP Warden Fitz (collectively, the “TDOC Defendants”). (ECF Nos. 1 & 7 at PageID 1, 4, 62.) Jenkins sues all individual Defendants in their official capacities. (ECF Nos. 10 & 11 at PageID 73, 84.) Jenkins seeks: (1) an injunction ordering TDOC to determine and treat the cause of Jenkins’ abdominal pain and heart condition; (2) punitive damages in the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.00) for his pain and suffering; (3) damages for his physical pain in the amount one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.00); (4) damages for his mental anguish in the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($150,000.00); and (5) for Centurion to pay “all costs of [t]his [l]awsuit[,]” and to send Jenkins to an “outside [h]ospital for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.” (ECF Nos. 1, 7 10, & 11 at PageID 6, 63, 73, 84.) The Consolidated Complaint (ECF Nos. 1, 7, 10, 11 & 12) is before the Court. For the

reasons explained below, the Court: (1) DISMISSES Plaintiff’s Consolidated Complaint WITH PREJUDICE in part AND WITHOUT PREJUDICE in part for failure to state a claim to relief against Defendants; (2) GRANTS leave to amend the claims dismissed without prejudice; (3) DENIES motions for injunctive relief; (4) DENIES motion for default judgment; (5) DECLINES to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over state law claims; and (6) DIRECTS the Clerk to modify the docket. I. BACKGROUND

The Court assumes Jenkins’ allegations are true for the purpose of screening the Consolidated Complaint. In January 2024, Jenkins alleges he began complaining about abdominal pain. (ECF No. 1 at PageID 5.) Jenkins alleges that the nursing staff employed by Centurion, including nurse and healthcare administrator Alisha Hurdle, “refuse to send me to an outside hospital per T.D.O.C. Policey (sic)” for diagnosis and treatment. (Id.) Jenkins alleges he has “been complaining of pain for months[.]” (Id.) Jenkins alleges Defendants have given him Tums, Fiber-Lax, omeprazole, naproxen and ibuprofen for his pain. (Id.) The source of Jenkins’ pain is undetermined. (Id.) Jenkins alleges he suffers from heart “spasms” and “pangs”, but “these people continue to give me the run around.” (Id.) Jenkins alleges he “forced the staff” to take him to an outside hospital on March 30, 2024. (Id.) Jenkins alleges the source of his pain was not diagnosed. (Id.) Jenkins alleges TDOC policy requires an inmate to be sent to an outside facility to relieve his pain and suffering when the healthcare provider cannot treat the inmate “accordingly[.]” (Id.) Jenkins alleges “these people refuse to aid me in determining the cause of this illness.” (Id.) Jenkins alleges he has been denied access to qualified medical personnel to treat his heart and abdomen issues. (Id.) Jenkins alleges the “medical staff” at WTSP are deliberately indifferent to his serious medical need. (Id.) Jenkins alleges TDOC assistant commissioner L.R.

Thomas denied Jenkins’ grievance. (ECF No. 7 at PageID 62.) Jenkins alleges Drs. Rich and Nguyen have denied him “further evaluation” and have not allowed Jenkins to be taken to outside hospitals for an MRI or endoscopy. (Id.) Jenkins alleges WTSP Warden Fitz has told Jenkins it is “not his problem, it’s a Centurion problem.” (Id.) Jenkins alleges Hurdle has denied Jenkins medical treatment. (Id.) Jenkins alleges that nurse practitioner Longmire gave Jenkins a “minimal evaluation[.]” (Id.) Jenkins alleges that Nurse April was argumentative. (Id.) Jenkins alleges he has “been forced to live with excruciating abdominal pain since February 2024.” (Id.) Jenkins alleges his Tennessee and U.S. Constitutional rights have been violated by Centurion’s failure to provide him adequate medical care. (ECF No. 10 at PageID 71.) Jenkins alleges Centurion’s “knowing” and “deliberate” failure to provide adequate healthcare shows

deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment and the Tennessee constitution. (Id.) Jenkins alleges he has been to sick call for “this issue” more than fifty times. (Id.) Jenkins alleges he was given a colonoscopy that revealed hemorrhoids in his colon in August of 2024. (Id.) Jenkins alleges that the hemorrhoids were not the source of his pain and that his pain continued. (Id.) Jenkins alleges Centurion’s Dr. Hodge saw him after the colonoscopy and told Jenkins “there was basically nothing more he would do for me[]” and that Jenkins would need to see a specialist. (Id. at PageID 71-72.) Jenkins alleges he was not “put in” to see anyone else and that his pain continued. (Id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co.
398 U.S. 144 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs.
436 U.S. 658 (Supreme Court, 1978)
Carnegie-Mellon University v. Cohill
484 U.S. 343 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Will v. Michigan Department of State Police
491 U.S. 58 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Lapides v. Board of Regents of Univ. System of Ga.
535 U.S. 613 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
550 U.S. 544 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal
556 U.S. 662 (Supreme Court, 2009)
Curley v. Perry
246 F.3d 1278 (Tenth Circuit, 2001)
Gamel v. City of Cincinnati
625 F.3d 949 (Sixth Circuit, 2010)
Hill v. Lappin
630 F.3d 468 (Sixth Circuit, 2010)
Williams v. Curtin
631 F.3d 380 (Sixth Circuit, 2011)
Roy Brown v. Linda Matauszak
415 F. App'x 608 (Sixth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Gonzalez Gonzalez
257 F.3d 31 (First Circuit, 2001)
Veneklase v. Bridgewater Condos, L.C.
670 F.3d 705 (Sixth Circuit, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Jenkins v. Centurion Health Care Services, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jenkins-v-centurion-health-care-services-tnwd-2025.