Trevino 296663 v. NaphCare Incorporated

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedOctober 2, 2025
Docket2:24-cv-03712
StatusUnknown

This text of Trevino 296663 v. NaphCare Incorporated (Trevino 296663 v. NaphCare Incorporated) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trevino 296663 v. NaphCare Incorporated, (D. Ariz. 2025).

Opinion

1 WO SC 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 David M. Trevino, No. CV-24-03712-PHX-SHD (CDB) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 NaphCare Incorporated, et al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 Plaintiff David M. Trevino, who is confined in the Arizona State Prison Complex- 16 Eyman, filed a civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Doc. 1) and 17 subsequently paid the filing and administrative fees. The Court dismissed the Complaint 18 for failure to state a claim with leave to amend. Plaintiff filed a motion for extension of 19 time (Doc. 9)1 and then filed a First Amended Complaint (Doc. 10). The Court will grant 20 the motion and will deem the First Amended Complaint timely filed. The Court will order 21 Defendants NaphCare and Karanja-Adams to respond to Counts I and II. With respect to 22 Count III, the Court will grant Plaintiff 120 days to discover the identify of Defendant 23 Unknown Physician and file a notice of substitution. 24 I. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 25 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 26 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 27 28 1 The citation refers to the document and page number generated by the Court’s Case Management/Electronic Case Filing system. 1 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint, or portion thereof, if a plaintiff 2 raises claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief 3 may be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 4 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). 5 A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 6 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (emphasis added). While Rule 8 does 7 not demand detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the- 8 defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 9 (2009). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 10 conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. 11 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a 12 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 13 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content 14 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 15 misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 16 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 17 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual 18 allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there 19 are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 681. 20 But as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has instructed, courts 21 must “continue to construe [self-represented litigant’s] filings liberally.” Hebbe v. Pliler, 22 627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010). A “complaint [filed by a self-represented prisoner] 23 ‘must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.’” Id. 24 (quoting Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per curiam)). 25 II. First Amended Complaint 26 In his three-count First Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges claims for denial of 27 constitutionally adequate medical care. Plaintiff sues Defendants NaphCare Incorporated 28 (“NaphCare”), Nurse Practitioner Grace Karanja-Adams, and an Unknown Physician, 1 seeking declaratory, injunctive, compensatory, and punitive relief. 2 In Count I, Plaintiff alleges the following facts: 3 On May 26, 2023, Plaintiff was suffering from “really bad chest pain,” and a 4 correctional officer initiated the Incident Command System (ICS).2 Plaintiff was 5 transported to the medical unit, where non-party Nurse Hernandez performed an EKG. 6 Plaintiff reported that he also had ongoing shoulder pain. When the EKG “came back 7 normal,” Plaintiff was sent back to his unit. (Doc. 10 at 3.) 8 Plaintiff submitted Health Needs Requests (HNRs) about symptoms including 9 severe abdominal and chest pain, vomiting, difficulty keeping food and water down, 10 burning on his side on a 10 out of 10 scale, excessive sweating, clamminess, and difficulty 11 sleeping, urinating, and performing everyday tasks. On July 13, 2023, Defendant Karanja- 12 Adams ordered a scan of Plaintiff’s shoulder, which was performed by outside provider 13 Simon Med, but that also captured Plaintiff’s abdomen. According to Plaintiff, the Simon 14 Med report “clearly show[ed] a major medical issue” with Plaintiff’s gall bladder. (Id. at 15 4.) The Simon Med report stated in part, “[d]iffusely inflamed gall bladder containing 16 gallstones with suggestion of focal perforation in the gallbladder fossa,” and reported an 17 impression that, “diffusely inflamed gallbladder containing gallstones with suggestion of 18 focal contained perforation in the gallbladder fossa. Etiology of pain likely due to this 19 phenomenon. CT abdomen with IV contrast likely recommended for further 20 evaluation[.]”3 (Id. at 4-5.) 21 The report further stated:

22 2 An ICS is an Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry process 23 “to prepare for, prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate incidents and emergencies.” See Department Order (DO) 706 at 1 [https://perma.cc/B8LH-UEJT]. 24 3 According to the Mayo Clinic, gallstones are hardened deposits of digestive fluid 25 that form in the gall bladder. See https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases- conditions/gallstones/symptoms-causes/syc-20354214 [https://perma.cc/Q9B7-AHNT]. 26 Gallstones may cause no signs or symptoms, but if a gallstone lodges in a duct and causes a blockage, resulting signs and symptoms may include sudden and rapidly intensifying pain 27 in the upper right abdomen or the center abdomen just below the breastbone, back pain between the shoulder blades, pain in the right shoulder, and nausea or vomiting. Id. Risk 28 factors include being overweight, sedentary, eating a high fat or high cholesterol diet, and eating a low fiber diet, among others. Id. Critical results pathway was initiated secondary to positive findings noted 1 above. This examination has been assigned to the Simon Med support staff 2 for communication to the ordering physician or their representative. In addition, the report will be immediately transmitted via the electronic 3 medical record or by fax at the time of dictation. If you require further 4 assistance, please contact our Radiologist Hotline. 5 (Id. 4-5 and 6.) Despite the report, prison medical staff, namely Defendant Karanja- 6 Adams, who ordered the scan, took no action in response to the report. 7 On August 1, 2023, Plaintiff began to again experience severe abdominal pain, 8 vomiting, inability to keep food and liquids down, burning in his side at a level of 10 out 9 of 10, excessive sweating, clamminess, and difficulty sleeping, urinating, and performing 10 everyday tasks. After several “man downs,” the ICS was initiated for a medical emergency. 11 (Id.

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Trevino 296663 v. NaphCare Incorporated, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trevino-296663-v-naphcare-incorporated-azd-2025.