Sandifer v. Green

126 F. App'x 908
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMarch 28, 2005
Docket04-3152
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 126 F. App'x 908 (Sandifer v. Green) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sandifer v. Green, 126 F. App'x 908 (10th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

MARY BECK BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.

Plaintiff John Sandifer, a Kansas state inmate proceeding pro se, claims that personnel at the Wyandotte County Detention Center in Kansas City, Kansas, were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs during the time he was a pretrial detainee at that facility. He filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The district court granted summary judgment in defendants’ favor and denied Mr. Sandifer’s motion to amend his complaint. 1 Mr. Sandifer appeals.

We first hold that Mr. Sandifer has not alleged the requisite actionable conduct for § 1983 liability on the part of defendants Green, Hopkins, and Prison Health Services. “[Ujnder § 1983, a defendant may not be held liable under a theory of respondeat superior. Instead, a plaintiff must show that an affirmative link exists between the constitutional deprivation and either the defendant’s personal participation, his exercise of control or direction, or his failure to supervise.” Ledbetter v. City of Topeka, 318 F.3d 1183, 1187 (10th Cir.2003) (quotations and citation omitted). Mr. Sandifer has alleged none of these circumstances. Accordingly, summary judgment in favor of these defendants was appropriate, and we consider Mr. Sandifer’s allegations only as to defendant Gamble, the jail doctor.

Background

We view the facts in the light most favorable to Mr. Sandifer, as the party opposing summary judgment. Sealock v. Colorado, 218 F.3d 1205, 1209 (10th Cir. 2000). Mr. Sandifer contracted the AIDS virus and began treatment in 1991, several years prior to the events discussed here. He was arrested on May 1, 1999, and detained at the Wyandotte County Detention Center until January 14, 2000, when he was transferred to the state penitentiary. He asserts that during the time he was at the detention center, Dr. Gamble delayed in obtaining his required medication, failed to administer it according to the precise schedule required, and disregarded his complaints of pain and other serious symptoms of his condition.

Mr. Sandifer did not receive his medication for the first five or six days after he entered the jail, despite his explanation to jail personnel that he needed the medication every day. During the next three months, he became increasingly ill because his medication was interrupted. In early June, Dr. Gamble ordered and reviewed blood tests, but did not correctly interpret *910 the results, so did not realize that Mr. Sandifer’s condition had worsened. From late June to late August, Mr. Sandifer complained of headaches, and was treated with Tylenol and ibuprofen. Although Dr. Gamble ordered more blood tests on August 23, the tests were not performed until August 31. Upon receiving the results, Dr. Gamble immediately transferred Mr. Sandifer to a hospital where he was treated for anemia caused by his AIDS medication. On September 3, Mr. Sandifer was released from the hospital and returned to the jail. He was examined by a specialist on September 15, who prescribed a triple combination therapy with instructions for administering the medication on a rigorous schedule. Jail personnel failed to follow the prescribed schedule and regularly failed to administer his medication, stating they forgot to reorder it or they were too busy to give it. Mr. Sandifer received no medication from September 3 through September 17, which may have caused or contributed to more health problems, including mouth sores, in late October and early November, for which Dr. Gamble did not treat him adequately. In early December, Mr. Sandifer’s medications were changed again, and in mid-January he was transferred from the jail to the penitentiary.

Mr. Sandifer sued, alleging that jail personnel were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs. Defendants responded and filed a Martinez 2 report. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants.

Deliberate Indifference to Serious Medical Needs

We review de novo the district court’s grant of summary judgment. Sealock, 218 F.3d at 1209. Summary judgment is appropriate if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986); Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c). Mr. Sandifer is representing himself on appeal, so his pleadings will be construed liberally. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972).

Because Mr. Sandifer was a pretrial detainee at the time his claims arose, we evaluate his claims under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, which affords “the same degree of protection against denial of medical care as that afforded to convicted inmates under the Eighth Amendment.” Estate of Hocker ex rel Hocker v. Walsh, 22 F.3d 995, 998 (10th Cir.1994). Accordingly, “we apply an analysis identical to that applied in Eighth Amendment cases.” Lopez v. Le-Master, 172 F.3d 756, 759 n. 2 (10th Cir. 1999).

“[DJeliberate indifference to a prisoner’s serious illness or injury states a cause of action under § 1983[,] whether the indifference is manifested by prison doctors in their response to the prisoner’s needs or by prison guards in intentionally denying or delaying access to medical care or intentionally interfering with the treatment once prescribed.” Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104-05, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976) (footnote omitted). “Deliberate indifference” involves an objective and a subjective element. Sealock, 218 F.3d at 1209. The objective element is fulfilled if the medical need “has been diagnosed by a physician as mandating treatment or ... is so obvious that even a lay person would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor’s attention.” Hunt v. Uphoff, 199 F.3d 1220, 1224 (10th Cir.1999) (quotation omitted). “The subjective component is met if *911

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