Troy R. Jackson v. Corizon Health, Inc.

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedFebruary 2, 2022
Docket20-14737
StatusUnpublished

This text of Troy R. Jackson v. Corizon Health, Inc. (Troy R. Jackson v. Corizon Health, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Troy R. Jackson v. Corizon Health, Inc., (11th Cir. 2022).

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 20-14737 Date Filed: 02/02/2022 Page: 1 of 19

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

____________________

No. 20-14737 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________

TROY R. JACKSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CORIZON HEALTH, INC.,

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 3:18-cv-01041-MMH-JBT ____________________ USCA11 Case: 20-14737 Date Filed: 02/02/2022 Page: 2 of 19

2 Opinion of the Court 20-14737

Before BRANCH, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Troy Jackson, a pro se Florida prisoner, appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Corizon Health, Inc., on his claim of deliberate indifference to his medical needs and failure to train medical staff in violation of the Eighth Amendment, and the dismissal without prejudice of his related state law claims. Jackson argues that summary judgment was improper because there are genuine issues of material fact for a jury to decide regarding (1) the timeline of events; (2) whether Corizon had a policy of requiring staff to receive a doctor’s permission before transferring an inmate to an off-site hospital and avoiding hospital transfers in order to minimize medical care costs; and (3) whether Corizon had a policy of undertraining its staff. He also maintains that his state law claims should not have been dismissed. After review, we affirm. I. Background Corizon Health, Inc. (“Corizon”) is a corporation that contracts with the Florida Department of Corrections to provide health care services in Florida’s prisons. Jackson, a Florida prisoner, filed a pro se 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint against Corizon, asserting Eighth Amendment violations for deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs and a failure to train medical staff, as well as state law claims for intentional infliction USCA11 Case: 20-14737 Date Filed: 02/02/2022 Page: 3 of 19

20-14737 Opinion of the Court 3

of emotional distress, medical negligence, and negligent hiring, retention, or supervision.1 At the time of the events alleged in the complaint, Jackson was an inmate at Columbia Correctional Institute in Lake City, Florida. Jackson alleged that he suffers from chronic asthma and that, on June 27, 2015, at approximately 3:00 a.m., he began suffering shortness of breath. He notified Sergeant Roebuck that he was having trouble breathing, and Sergeant Roebuck contacted the prison’s medical unit. Nurse Cynthia Lewis responded to the call and transported Jackson via wheelchair to the medical unit. Jackson’s oxygen level registered as 82%. Therefore, at 3:30 a.m., Nurse Lewis administered a nebulized breathing treatment and a Solumedrol injection. According to Jackson, approximately three minutes later, he went into respiratory failure and lost consciousness. At that time, Nurse Lewis panicked and exited the room without trying to revive Jackson. Officer Landig was on duty in the medical unit, and he ran after Lewis in an attempt to get her to return. Between 3:33 and 3:35 a.m., Officer Landig contacted the prison’s control room and advised of Jackson’s situation and that he needed immediate medical assistance. Jackson maintains that, during this time, Nurse Lewis was attempting to reach the physician on-call via phone, “presumably seeking instructions or permission to send [Jackson] to the outside Hospital Emergency

1We refer to the allegations in Jackson’s second amended complaint which is the operative complaint in this case. USCA11 Case: 20-14737 Date Filed: 02/02/2022 Page: 4 of 19

4 Opinion of the Court 20-14737

Room.” Sergeant Roebuck heard Officer Landig’s message over the radio, and immediately headed to the medical unit. Upon arrival, he questioned Nurse Lewis about whether she intended to administer CPR, and Nurse Lewis said “No.” Sergeant Roebuck began searching for an “Ambi-bag” and informed Nurse Lewis that Jackson would begin suffering brain damage if he was not revived. Sergeant Roebuck located the Ambi-bag and administered CPR to Jackson, who began breathing. However, according to Jackson, at 4:08 a.m., he went into respiratory failure a second time, and once again Nurse Lewis refused to perform CPR, but Sergeant Roebuck administered CPR. At 4:13 a.m., Officer Landig called the control room and requested an ambulance. At some point during these events, Nurse Shiver entered the medical unit to assist. At 4:27 a.m., the ambulance arrived. Paramedics intubated Jackson, who remained unconscious, and the paramedics transported him to a local hospital. The local hospital later ordered Jackson to be transferred to a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, where he was placed in intensive care for two days. He was diagnosed with “severe asthma exacerbation, post acute hypercapnic respiratory failure with ventilator support, and hypertension.” After his two-day stay in intensive care, the hospital discharged Jackson to North Florida Reception and Medical Center facility, where he stayed for a little over a week. Thereafter, he returned to Columbia Correctional Institute. Jackson alleged that, upon his return, he spoke with USCA11 Case: 20-14737 Date Filed: 02/02/2022 Page: 5 of 19

20-14737 Opinion of the Court 5

Sergeant Roebuck, Officer Landig, and Nurse Lewis about the events surrounding his medical crisis, and they conveyed the facts to him that served as the basis for his complaint. Furthermore, Nurse Lewis explained that she did not perform CPR because her CPR certification had expired, and she did not want to be liable if something happened. She also explained that [she] did not immediately send [Jackson] to the emergency room when [he] went into respiratory failure, because we are instructed to find alternative treatment options that [are] cost efficient then to send an inmate to an outside hospital, and if there’s no other options available, to contact the on-call physician for approval to send an inmate to the hospital. Jackson alleged that, as a result of the staff’s inaction and the delay in treatment, he suffered a 50% reduction in his lung capacity and substantial memory loss. Accordingly, Jackson argued that Corizon was deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment because it had a custom, policy, or practice of requiring medical staff to receive permission from a physician before authorizing the transfer of an inmate to an off-site hospital even in emergency situations, and to seek alternative medical treatments in an effort minimize medical costs. He also alleged that Corizon failed to properly train Lewis. And he asserted several related state law claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress, medical negligence, and negligent hiring, USCA11 Case: 20-14737 Date Filed: 02/02/2022 Page: 6 of 19

6 Opinion of the Court 20-14737

retention, or supervision. In support of his claims, Jackson submitted (1) copies of his administrative grievances concerning the medical care he received on June 27, 2015; (2) the paramedic’s prehospital care report; (3) Jackson’s sworn affidavit attesting that he spoke with Sergeant Roebuck and that Sergeant Roebuck informed Jackson “that he (Roebuck) had to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (“CPR”), because . . . [Nurse Lewis] refused to do so, because she had to telephonically contact the on-site physician to get permission to send [Jackson] out to a hospital emergency room”; (4) an October 2016 article discussing issues with Corizon health services in prison facilities across the country; and (5) opinions or orders from several other cases that had been brought against Corizon.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sewell v. Town of Lake Hamilton, FL
117 F.3d 488 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
Gold v. City of Miami
151 F.3d 1346 (Eleventh Circuit, 1998)
Meredith T. Raney, Jr. v. Allstate Insurance Co.
370 F.3d 1086 (Eleventh Circuit, 2004)
Lea Cordoba v. Dillard's Inc.
419 F.3d 1169 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
Quebell P. Parker v. Scrap Metal Processors, Inc.
468 F.3d 733 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
Garczynski v. Bradshaw
573 F.3d 1158 (Eleventh Circuit, 2009)
Estelle v. Gamble
429 U.S. 97 (Supreme Court, 1976)
City of Canton v. Harris
489 U.S. 378 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Hope v. Pelzer
536 U.S. 730 (Supreme Court, 2002)
Craig v. Floyd County, Ga.
643 F.3d 1306 (Eleventh Circuit, 2011)
Keith Ex Rel. Estate of Cook v. DeKalb County
749 F.3d 1034 (Eleventh Circuit, 2014)
Linda Jean Quigg, Ed.D. v. Thomas County School District
814 F.3d 1227 (Eleventh Circuit, 2016)
Paul Boyle v. City of Pell City
866 F.3d 1280 (Eleventh Circuit, 2017)
Carl Hoffer v. Secretary, Florida Department Corrections
973 F.3d 1263 (Eleventh Circuit, 2020)
Connick v. Thompson
179 L. Ed. 2d 417 (Supreme Court, 2011)
Harris v. Thigpen
941 F.2d 1495 (Eleventh Circuit, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Troy R. Jackson v. Corizon Health, Inc., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/troy-r-jackson-v-corizon-health-inc-ca11-2022.