(PC) Joyce v. Sherman

District Court, E.D. California·Decided March 22, 2021·No. 1:20-cv-01324·Unknown

Opinion

STEVEN LEON JOYCE, ) Case No.: 1:20-cv-01324-SAB (PC) ) Plaintiff, ) ) ORDER DIRECTING CLERK OF COURT TO v. ) RANDOMLY ASSIGN A DISTRICT JUDGE TO THIS ACTION STEWART SHERMAN, et al., ) ) FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Defendants. ) RECOMMENDING DISMISSAL OF ACTION ) FOR FAILURE TO STATE COMPLY WITH A ) COURT ORDER, FAILURE TO PROSECUTE, ) AND FAILURE TO STATE A COGNIZABLE ) CLAIM FOR RELIEF ) ) (ECF No. 18)

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Plaintiff Steven Leon Joyce is proceeding pro se and in forma pauepris in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff filed the instant action on September 16, 2020. On October 5, 2020, the Court screened Plaintiff’s complaint, found no cognizable claims, and granted Plaintiff thirty days to file an amended complaint. (ECF No. 8.) Plaintiff failed to file an amended complaint or otherwise respond to the Court’s order. On October 30, 2020, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint. (ECF No. 12.) On November 16, 2020, the Court screened the amended complaint, again found not cognizable claim, and granted Plaintiff one final opportunity to amend the complaint. (ECF No. 13.) Plaintiff failed to file a second amended complaint or otherwise respond to the Court’s November 16, 2020 order. On February 25, 2021, the Court ordered Plaintiff to show cause within fourteen days why the action should not be dismissed. (ECF No. 18.) Plaintiff failed to respond to the Court’s February 25, 2021 order and the time to do has now passed. I. The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that “fail[] to state a claim on which relief may be granted,” or that “seek[] monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief . . . .” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). Moreover, Plaintiff must demonstrate that each defendant personally participated in the deprivation of Plaintiff’s rights. Jones v. Williams, 297 F.3d 930, 934 (9th Cir. 2002). Prisoners proceeding pro se in civil rights actions are entitled to have their pleadings liberally construed and to have any doubt resolved in their favor. Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). To survive screening, Plaintiff’s claims must be facially plausible, which requires sufficient factual detail to allow the Court to reasonably infer that each named defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678-79; Moss v. U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). The “sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully” is not sufficient, and “facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s liability” falls short of satisfying the plausibility standard. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; Moss, 572 F.3d at 969. /// /// /// II. From mid-April to May 13, 2019, Defendants Doctor Kokor and Registered Nurse Powell delayed sending Plaintiff to the Adventist Health Hospital in Bakersfield, California in order for Plaintiff to recover appropriately. G. Fajardo, Clarence Cryer, and S. Gates reviewed and denied Plaintiff’s healthcare appeal. On January 29, 2019, Doctor Kokor noted that Plaintiff was placed into the HIV- anticoagulation status. (Am. Compl., Ex. A-1.) Registered Nurse Sarah noted that Plaintiff was scheduled for cystoscopy and transrectal ultrasonography of the prostate with multiple biopsies. (Id.) On March 18, 2019, Doctor Kokor noted that had elevated PSA and a family history of prostate CA. “The urinary bladder exhibits a post void residual bladder volume of 68 cc which is abnormal. IMPRESSION: Prostatomegaly with urinary retention.” (Id., Ex. A-2.) On April 10, 2019, Doctor Kokor ordered a Microalb RAM urine test which revealed abnormalities in Albumin excretion. (Id., Exs. A-3, A-4.) On April 24, 2019, Plaintiff filed a health care services request form informing medical staff that he had been coughing for three days and had symptoms of a cold. Plaintiff requested cold medication, but on April 30, 2019, Doctor Kokor had Chinyere-Nyenke add notations that Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Nortriptyline had failed to help Plaintiff. (Id., Ex. A-6.) On April 29, 2019, Doctor Kokor extended Plaintiff’s HIV anticoagulation treatment placing a completion date of July 28, 2019. On May 1, 2019, Doctor Kokor conducted an x-ray of Plaintiff’s right hip and found mild degenerative bone mineralization defect. On May 2, 2019, Doctor Kokor examined Plaintiff’s chest by way of x-ray, and the frontal and lateral chest radiographs found small left lung connolidation/pneumonia:hyperinflation. Follow-up x-rays were recommended for resolution, and another blood specimen was collected from Plaintiff to test for coccoidal antibodies. (Id., Exs. A-8, A-9, A-10.) /// /// On May 2, 2019, Plaintiff informed Registered Nurse that his cough was back and he was having shortness of breath while laying in bed. Plaintiff was transported to the Hospital in Bakersfield. (Id., Ex. A-11.) The stool specimens collected from Plaintiff on March 12, 2019, and the blood specimen collected on May 2, 2019, were returned on May 3, 2019 showing negative semi-quantitative assessment for coccoid antibodies. (Id., Ex. A-9.) Doctor Kokor was temporarily replaced by Doctor Julius Metts who obtained a blood specimen from Plaintiff on May 3, 2019, and chose to use the same Quest Diagnostic Lab in West Hills that Doctor Kokor used to test for coccidioidomycosis antibodies “which speaks of its inac[c]uracy.” (Am. Compl. at 7, Exs. A-13, A-14.) On May 6, 2019, Plaintiff submitted another health care services request form informing Registered Nurse Powell that his breathing had gotten worse, he had not slept in two weeks, and the medication was not working. (Id., Ex. A-15, A-18.) On May 10, 2019, Doctor Nyenke noted that Plaintiff had an obstructed symptom that had not been relieved on the treatment, yet Plaintiff was back in his cell on the yard “fighting his way through the morbid sore throat, and inability to breathe, writing yet another Health Care Service Request slip to RN Powell, saying he was out of medication and needed badly to be seen.” (Am. Compl. at 8, Ex. A.- 18.) On May 13, 2019, Doctor Kokor sent Plaintiff to the Adventist Health Hospital for five days in order to receive a breathing treatment that was not available at California Substance Abuse and Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran. (Id., Ex. A-19.) The hospital produced Plaintiff’s active diagnosis as Valley Fever (pulmonary coccidioidomycosis, bilateral pneumonia, reactive IgG and IgM, and sepsis which was present on admission. Doctor Kokor and Registered Nurse Powell’s failure to turn Plaintiff over to a higher level of care and to leave him in an adequate recovery center until he healed constitutes criminal negligence. (Id., Exs, A-20, A-21, A-22.) Plaintiff contends Doctor Kokor failed to

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