Wells v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections

72 So. 3d 910, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 989, 2011 WL 3687602
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 24, 2011
Docket46,428-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 72 So. 3d 910 (Wells v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wells v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections, 72 So. 3d 910, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 989, 2011 WL 3687602 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

GASKINS, J.

[iThe plaintiff, Leila Wells, mother of the decedent, Kerry Scarborough, appeals from a trial court judgment and jury verdict finding that the defendants, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (“DPSC”); the Madison Parish Law Enforcement District; Charles R. Harmon, Jr., former sheriff of Madison Parish; and E.A. Conway Medical Center (“Conway”), did not fail to render reasonable and adequate medical care to the decedent. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In March 1993, Mr. Scarborough, who lived in the Tallulah, Louisiana area, saw a doctor at a clinic in Vicksburg, Mississippi, complaining of pain in his left back. In June 1993, Mr. Scarborough returned to the clinic and saw Dr. Fitten Lamar McMillan, complaining of left back scapular discomfort. Mr. Scarborough weighed 128 pounds and smoked one package of cigarettes per day. Mr. Scarborough’s chest x-ray showed bullous changes at the lung apexes indicative of emphysema. He also had mild arthritic changes to bony structures. No destructive lesions were observed.

Mr. Scarborough had been convicted of distribution of marijuana and was sentenced to serve seven years at hard labor. The sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation. In 1993, Mr. Scarborough was convicted of DWI and possession of marijuana. As a result of these subsequent convictions, Mr. Scarborough’s probation was revoked and he |2was ordered to serve the seven-year sentence. He was remanded to the custody of the DPSC on August 27,1993.

Mr. Scarborough was placed in the Madison Parish Detention Center (“MPDC”), a facility run by the Madison Parish Sheriffs Office, which houses DPSC prisoners. Mr. Scarborough was assigned to that facility from August 27, 1993, until January 10, 1995. Because of his continuing complaints of pain, he was frequently seen by the nurse at MPDC and by Dr. Thomas Arthur Neumann, the physician who treated patients from MPDC.

In November 1993, Dr. Neumann referred Mr. Scarborough to Conway where a CT scan of his neck was done and showed no abnormalities. Mr. Scarborough’s complaints of pain continued and he was hospitalized from December 23 through December 30, 1993, at Conway. He complained of shoulder pain as well as mid-back and neck pain that had been going on for one year. Tests were conducted including x-rays, blood work, and tests for tuberculosis. Mr. Scarborough’s weight was still listed as 128 pounds at that point. Chest x-rays showed chronic scarring of both pulmonary apexes with small apical cysts. No tumors were found. [914]*914He was discharged with a diagnosis of positive tuberculosis (“TB”) exposure that was inactive. He was prescribed medication for TB and pain.

Mr. Scarborough returned to Conway in June 1994. There was no change in his chest x-ray. A CT scan of his neck was done and the results were normal. Mr. Scarborough’s weight was 123 pounds, reflecting alaweight loss of five pounds. Mr. Scarborough was told to return to Conway in November 1994.

In December 1994, Mr. Scarborough was sent to Conway. His weight had dropped to 119 pounds and he continued to complain of neck, back, and left shoulder pain. A bone scan was performed and showed that Mr. Scarborough had lung cancer which had affected the first, second, and third ribs and the vertebrae in his neck. Portions of the ribs had been consumed by the cancer. Mr. Scarborough also had a cyst or lesion on his neck.

On January 10, 1995, Mr. Scarborough was transferred to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center, a DPSC facility, and was then sent to David Wade Correctional Center, another DPSC facility, on January 23, 1995. Mr. Scarborough was conclusively diagnosed with lung cancer on February 17, 1995, after a biopsy performed at Conway. He had a Pancoast lung cancer tumor which is rare and is seldom diagnosed before it causes symptoms. By the time most of these cancers are diagnosed, they have progressed to the point where there is little chance of survival. The tumor was located high on the left lung and was difficult, if not impossible, to see on earlier chest x-rays.

On February 27, 1995, Mr. Scarborough received a medical furlough from prison and was released to his mother’s home where he stayed until his death on March 30, 1995. Mr. Scarborough was 35 years old at the time of his death.

On March 29, 1996, Mrs. Wells filed suit against the DPSC, Madison Parish Law Enforcement District, and Sheriff Harmon, alleging that their | ¿fault, negligence, and deliberate indifference to Mr. Scarborough were the sole and legal cause of the rapid progression of his illness and his untimely death. She later amended her petition to add Conway as a defendant. Mrs. Wells alleged that the defendants failed to provide adequate and complete medical care to Mr. Scarborough although he repeatedly requested it, and that they failed to provide complete and adequate medical care regarding his obvious medical needs such as significant weight loss, chronic back and shoulder pain, and lumps on his shoulder and neck. Mrs. Wells claimed that her son was transported from facility to facility to get rid of an obviously terminally ill inmate and to avoid obtaining the necessary medical care for him. During the proceedings, Mrs. Wells claimed that Mr. Scarborough frequently was not given his medications at MPDC and on one occasion, his pain medication was left out and was stolen. She asserted that the MPDC personnel did not have the medication replaced. She urged that the defendants were negligent and deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs, welfare, and life of Mr. Scarborough.

Mrs. Wells claimed that she suffered emotional pain and suffering and mental anguish and loss of consortium for the loss of her son. She also asserted a survival action for the physical and mental pain and suffering Mr. Scarborough sustained prior to his death.

Many procedural matters were raised in the years prior to trial. The plaintiff propounded interrogatories to the sheriffs office concerning its understanding of the relationship between the sheriffs office and the DPSC. When the plaintiff was [915]*915not satisfied with the responses, she filed a motion to | r,compel in the trial court. The trial court denied the motion to compel, finding that the discovery requests sought a legal opinion from the sheriff which he was not required to provide. The plaintiff applied for supervisory writs to this court. In Wells v. State, Department of Public Safety and Corrections, 41,836 (La.App.2d Cir.3/7/07), 954 So.2d 234, we found that the plaintiffs discovery requests called for legal conclusions based upon statutory or contractual law and were inappropriate. We affirmed the trial court judgment.

The DPSC and the sheriffs office filed motions for summary judgment which were denied by the trial court. The defendants’ writ applications from those rulings were denied by this court.

The DPSC filed a motion in limine to exclude any testimony from Dr. Harrison M. Lazarus, a trauma and vascular surgeon, on the grounds that he did not have the expertise to express an opinion on the timing and propriety of nonsurgical examination, testing, and diagnosis of cancer.1 The trial court granted the motion in li-mine, excluding the testimony of Dr. Lazarus. The plaintiff applied for supervisory writs with this court. On August 28, 2008, this court denied the writ application concerning Dr. Lazarus.

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Wells v. Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections
72 So. 3d 910 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2011)

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Bluebook (online)
72 So. 3d 910, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 989, 2011 WL 3687602, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wells-v-louisiana-department-of-public-safety-corrections-lactapp-2011.