(PC) Healy v. Yasmeen

District Court, E.D. California·Decided September 14, 2020·No. 2:19-cv-02052·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 11 JEFF HEALY, No. 2:19-CV-2052-WBS-DMC-P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14 SHAGUFTA YASMEEN, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, a prisoner proceeding pro se, brings this civil rights action pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s complaint (ECF No. 1). 19 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 20 against a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. See 28 U.S.C. 21 § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if it: (1) is frivolous or 22 malicious; (2) fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; or (3) seeks monetary relief 23 from a defendant who is immune from such relief. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1), (2). Moreover, 24 the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that complaints contain a “. . . short and plain 25 statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). This 26 means that claims must be stated simply, concisely, and directly. See McHenry v. Renne, 84 F.3d 27 1172, 1177 (9th Cir. 1996) (referring to Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(e)(1)). These rules are satisfied if the 28 complaint gives the defendant fair notice of the plaintiff’s claim and the grounds upon which it 1 rests. See Kimes v. Stone, 84 F.3d 1121, 1129 (9th Cir. 1996). Because Plaintiff must allege 2 with at least some degree of particularity overt acts by specific defendants which support the 3 claims, vague and conclusory allegations fail to satisfy this standard. Additionally, it is 4 impossible for the Court to conduct the screening required by law when the allegations are vague 5 and conclusory. 6 8 In its June 15, 2020, screening order, the Court summarized Plaintiff’s allegations 9 as follows:

10 Plaintiff names five defendants: (1) Dr. Shagufta Yasmeen, (2) Dr. Sahir Naseer, (3) Dr. G. Williams, (4) Dr. Amy Adams, and (5) the 11 unidentified manufacturer/distributor of “Gadolinium” contrast dye. Plaintiff, a prisoner at California Health Care Facility, is 12 medically disabled and utilizes a wheelchair. Beginning in 2015, Plaintiff has routinely complained to defendants Yasmeen and Naseer about 13 various afflictions that cause him to feel severe chronic pain. Plaintiff alleges defendants Yasmeen and Nasser violated his Eighth Amendment 14 rights by refusing to treat the medical needs he has brought to their attention. Additionally, plaintiff alleges that defendant Williams, along 15 with defendants Yasmeen and Nasser, interfered with plaintiff’s previous pain-related treatment by discontinuing his pain medication with falsified 16 documentation. Plaintiff also alleges that defendant Adams acted with deliberate indifference towards plaintiff’s serious medical needs by failing 17 to act upon plaintiff’s request. Finally, plaintiff alleges that the manufacturer/distributor of “Gadolinium” contrast dye, used on plaintiff 18 during an MRI scan, was aware of the harmful effects it caused when the dye fails to exit the body. 19 Claim I – Plaintiff’s Left Knee Plaintiff suffers chronic pain in his left knee due to a 20 torn/missing anterior cruciate ligament, a torn medial collateral ligament, a torn/missing meniscus, and severe degenerative joint disease. Despite 21 plaintiff complaining since 2015, defendants Yasmeen and Naseer refuse to remedy his injuries or treat his pain. Plaintiff acknowledges, however, 22 defendants repeatedly informed him that he is unfit for any surgeries, and plaintiff asserts that nothing less than total left knee replacement surgery 23 would repair his knee. Claim II – Plaintiff’s Right Foot and Ankle 24 Plaintiff suffers from chronic pain in his right foot and ankle due to an incident from 2005. Plaintiff began complaining to 25 defendants Yasmeen and Naseer about his foot and ankle in 2015, but they ignored his complaints. On June 21, 2016, plaintiff fell, further injuring 26 his right foot and ankle. An x-ray examination of plaintiff’s foot showed he suffered a possible fracture, but defendants refused to order an x-ray of 27 plaintiff’s ankle despite plaintiff’s protest. On April 30, 2017, defendant Naseer finally ordered an x-ray of plaintiff’s ankle that revealed the loss of 28 the subtalar joint suggesting collapse or malalignment in his ankle. 1 According to plaintiff, defendants Yasmeen and Naseer refuse to remedy the injury or treat his pain. 2 Claim III – Plaintiff’s Spine Plaintiff alleges he routinely complained to defendants 3 Yasmeen, Naseer, and Williams about severe chronic pain in his neck and back, general loss of mobility, and the loss of feeling/strength in his arms 4 and legs. Plaintiff attributes his ailments to the damage and deterioration of the lumbar and cervical regions of his spine. After one and a half years 5 of complaints to defendant Naseer, plaintiff underwent an MRI of the lumbar region of his spine on October 24, 2018. The MRI showed bodily 6 damage. However, plaintiff alleges defendants Yasmeen, Naseer, and Williams refused to discuss remedying his spine or treating the pain the 7 injury causes him. Furthermore, plaintiff contends that defendants ignored the pain he feels in the cervical region of his spine. 8 Claim IV – Plaintiff’s Lower Leg Wounds Plaintiff alleges defendant Yasmeen refused to supply 9 plaintiff with dressing supplies to treat wounds on his lower legs caused by reduced circulation. Plaintiff also alleges he has been unable to use 10 dressing due to the pain they cause him after defendants Yasmeen, Williams, and Naseer discontinued his pain medication. Defendants 11 prevention of plaintiff from using compression dressing, he alleges, exacerbated the wounds on his legs. Plaintiff also claims defendant Adams 12 prevented treatment of his wounds after he wrote her a letter regarding his situation, dated December 25, 2016. 13 Claim V – Plaintiff’s Left Shoulder In January 2016, plaintiff injured his left shoulder. After 14 weeks of complaints from plaintiff, defendant Yasmeen ordered an x-ray. The x-ray’s results showed plaintiff likely suffered a rotator cuff injury. 15 Despite the x-ray’s results and plaintiff telling defendant Yasmeen that he felt a muscle tear, defendant Yasmeen refused to evaluate the shoulder 16 anymore, arbitrarily attributing plaintiff’s injury to arthritis. Defendants Yasmeen and Williams reported that plaintiff was non-compliant and 17 faking his symptoms when he failed to perform physical therapy exercises. On December 13, 2016, after eleven months of plaintiff 18 complaining about his shoulder, defendant Yasmeen ordered an MRI of plaintiff’s shoulder. The MRI results showed that plaintiff suffered five 19 tears in his shoulder. Defendant Naseer ruled out surgery to fix plaintiff’s shoulder since he believed plaintiff was unfit to undergo any surgical 20 procedure. However, Naseer never allowed plaintiff to see specialists who could perform a surgical viability evaluation. Defendant Naseer sent 21 plaintiff to physical therapy again. The physical therapist stated that the damage to plaintiff’s left shoulder was too extensive for physical therapy 22 to be of any benefit.

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