Sonds v. St. Barnabas Hospital Correctional Health Services

151 F. Supp. 2d 303, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7830
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMay 21, 2001
DocketNo. 00 Civ. 4968(CM)
StatusPublished
Cited by115 cases

This text of 151 F. Supp. 2d 303 (Sonds v. St. Barnabas Hospital Correctional Health Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sonds v. St. Barnabas Hospital Correctional Health Services, 151 F. Supp. 2d 303, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7830 (S.D.N.Y. 2001).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER DISMISSING COMPLAINT

McMAHON, District Judge.

Pro Se Plaintiff Reginald Sonds sues St. Barnabas Correctional Health Services (“St.Barnabas”), the City of New York, the City of New York Department of Corrections, and various correction officers pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for denying him necessary medical treatment while a prisoner on Riker’s Island in the City of New York. Defendants St. Barnabas and the City of New York have moved to dismiss [307]*307the instant complaint. Return of service of summons and complaint were executed as to St. Barnabas, Correctional Health Services, and the City of New York on March 14, 2001.

Two separate grounds exist for dismissal of the civil rights claim asserted by plaintiff against the moving defendants, either of which is sufficient to justify granting such relief.

First, the complaint must be dismissed because the plaintiff has admitted that he failed, prior to commencing this lawsuit, to avail himself of institutional administrative procedures in order to raise his claim that he was deprived of necessary medical treatment. Decisional law makes it plain that a failure to exhaust administrative remedies, as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act, mandates dismissal of a complaint.

Second, plaintiff fails to state a claim for relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, because Plaintiffs injury does not qualify as “serious” under the objective prong of the “deliberate indifference” test. Furthermore, as to defendant St. Barnabas, plaintiff fails to allege deliberate indifference, since he admits that he received medical attention from the physicians affiliated with defendant.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The following factual allegations, drawn from the four corners of the complaint, are deemed true for purposes of evaluating this motion to dismiss.

At approximately 4:00 PM on July 11, 1998, plaintiff injured his finger in a cell door at the Rikers Island Adolescent Reception Detention Center, where he was being held. According to the complaint, skin was ripped off his finger, leaving it “bleeding, red and burning.” The complaint alleges that Plaintiff filled out an injury report, and that he was allowed to go to the clinic at approximately 7:00 PM. Plaintiff was given a tetanus shot and his finger was bandaged.

The following day, July 12, plaintiff removed the bandage from his finger. The skin peeled off. Plaintiff thereafter went back to the clinic, where he received a second treatment, the nature of which is not specified.

Although it is not entirely clear, it seems that plaintiff is alleging that the, defendants were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs in the following ways: a medical officer did, not come to his cell immediately to treat his injury; there was a delay in taking plaintiff to the clinic; plaintiffs wound was not stitched; and plaintiffs finger was not x-rayed to ascertain whether he suffered from “internal bleeding or damages.” The complaint does not contain any allegation of permanent disability due to the injury to plaintiffs finger.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. Plaintiff has not exhausted his administrative remedies.

The plaintiff admits in his complaint that, prior to instituting this lawsuit, he failed to resort to institutional administrative procedures in order to protest the fact that he was allegedly denied proper medical care. This fact compels dismissal of the complaint.

Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”), an inmate is required to exhaust all available administrative remedies before bringing suit on a federal claim. Specifically, the PLRA provides:

No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section ... 1983 [of this title], or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional [308]*308facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.

42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). As interpreted by decisional law, this statute demands that prisoners first challenge the conditions of their confinement through the highest level of available administrative avenues prior to filing suit. Santiago v. Meinsen, 89 F.Supp.2d 435 (S.D.N.Y.2000). This requirement must be met where an inmate is protesting that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs. Id. at 435.

New York State has procedures for filing grievances in each of its correctional facilities. Id. Plaintiff admits that this is so.. (Compl. at II A.). Plaintiff further admits that he did not avail himself of those procedures to challenge to the purported denial of medical care to him. (Id. at II B.) Consequently, his civil rights complaint must be dismissed.

Plaintiff argues that he was not required to exhaust the available administrative remedies because he seeks only money damages. As the City points out in its reply letter, the Second Circuit has not yet ruled on whether the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement applies where a prisoner seeks only money damages and the available administrative remedies make no provision for such relief. Nussle v. Willette, 224 F.3d 95, 100 n. 5 (2d Cir.2000). While there is some disagreement among the district judges in this Circuit about this issue, there is a clear trend among district court judges within the Second Circuit to find that a prisoner must exhaust his administrative remedies even where the relief he requests “cannot be awarded by the administrative body hearing the complaint.” Sutton v. Greiner, No. Civ.A. 00-0727, 2000 WL 1809284 (S.D.N.Y. Dec.ll, 2000) (Sweet, J.) (citing Santiago, 89 F.Supp.2d at 440; Snider v. Melindez, 199 F.3d 108, 114 n. 2 (2d Cir.1999)). I agree with this trend and rule that the exhaustion requirement applies in this case.

2. Even If Plaintiff Did Not have to Exhaust Administrative Remedies. The Complaint Would have to be dismissed.

Even if Sonds did not have to exhaust his administrative remedies, or if he had actually done so, his complaint would have to be dismissed for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted. Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6).

To survive a 12(b) motion, a plaintiff must allege facts that, accepted as true, make out the elements of a claim. Johnson v. A.P. Products, Ltd., 934 F.Supp. 625, 626 (S.D.N.Y.1996). It is imperative that the complaint contain “either direct or inferential allegations respecting all the material elements necessary to sustain a recovery under some viable legal theory.” This standard applies to civil rights claims brought pursuant to Section 1983. Muka v. Greene County, 101 A.D.2d 965, 477 N.Y.S.2d 444 (3d Dep’t 1984). See also Koch v. Yunich,

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151 F. Supp. 2d 303, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sonds-v-st-barnabas-hospital-correctional-health-services-nysd-2001.