Williams v. Jabe

947 F. Supp. 1130, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17840, 1996 WL 685750
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedNovember 25, 1996
Docket95-70665
StatusPublished

This text of 947 F. Supp. 1130 (Williams v. Jabe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. Jabe, 947 F. Supp. 1130, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17840, 1996 WL 685750 (E.D. Mich. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

FEIKENS, District Judge.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff, Ruth Ann Williams, is the personal representative of the estaté of Anthony Wade (“Wade” or “decedent”), who committed suicide while imprisoned at the State Prison of Southern Michigan (“SPSM”). Three defendants, Dr. i Mehra, Dr. Cabrera, and Dr. Rodriguez (“defendants” or “defendant psychiatrists”), are psychiatrists for the prison system who each evaluated the decedent at some point before his death while he was incarcerated.

Prior to his commitment at SPSM, Wade had been a pre-trial detainee in the Wayne County Jail for approximately 16 months while awaiting trial. There, he was diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression with psychotic features. In December 1992, he attempted suicide by overdosing on prescription drugs he had been given for his depression. He remained in a medical ward during his time in jail except when he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital when his psychiatric condition worsened. On August 19, 1993, he was convicted of second-degree murder and was transferred to SPSM the next day.

In his three months at SPSM, Wade was tested, interviewed, and analyzed by a number of therapists, including the three defendant psychiatrists. Notes from the therapists’ interviews indicate that decedent was depressed, that he had attempted suicide, and that he recently attempted it by overdose ing on depression medication provided to him at the jail. Nevertheless, he was provided medication in the same manner. He committed suicide with pills given to him on November 28,1993.

Plaintiff filed an action in this court stating subject matter jurisdiction (42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1988) and alleged claims of a denial of proper medical care and of negligent supervision in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the *1132 U.S. Constitution. She also filed state law claims of gross negligence and malpractice.

Defendant psychiatrists filed a motion for summary judgment claiming that no factual basis exists for the federal claims and thus a lack of pendent jurisdiction for the state claims.

The other defendants in this ease, John Jabe, then-warden of SPSM, and Gerald Hof-bauer, then-deputy warden of SPSM, have filed separate motions for summary judgment and are not subject to this motion.

For reasons set forth, defendant psychiatrists’ motion for summary judgment is denied in part and granted in part.

II. THE FEDERAL CLAIMS

A. Summary Judgment Standard

Summary judgement is proper “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. "56(c). The inquiry is “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether" it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 251-52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Therefore plaintiff must produce more than a scintilla of evidence to overcome a motion for summary judgment. Id.

The moving party bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of all genuine issues of material fact. Gregg v. Allen-Bradley Co., 801 F.2d 859, 861 (6th Cir.1986). This burden “may be discharged by ‘showing’ — that is, pointing out to the district court — that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The burden then shifts to the nonmoving party to set forth specific facts showing a genuinely triable issue. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). The court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmovant and draw all reasonable inferences in the nonmovant’s favor. United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 994, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962).

B. Deliberate Indifference

“The proper inquiry ... under § 1983 for a jail detainee’s suicide is: whether the decedent showed [to the defendants] a strong likelihood that he would attempt to take his own life in such a manner that failure to take adequate precautions amounted to deliberate indifference to the decedent’s serious medical needs.” Barber v. City of Salem, 953 F.2d 232, 239-40 (6th Cir.1992), citing, Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 292, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). “Where prison officials are so deliberately indifferent to the serious medical needs of prisoners as to unnecessarily and wantonly inflict pain, they impose cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.” Horn v. Madison County Fiscal Court, 22 F.3d 653, 660 (6th Cir.1994).

In Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, -, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 1979, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994), the Supreme Court held that deliberate indifference requires that “the official must both be aware of the facts from which the inference could be drawn that a substantial risk of serious harm exists, and he must also draw the inference.” Id., 511 U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1978. Under this standard, “an official’s failure to alleviate a significant risk that he should have perceived but did not” cannot be considered a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Id. If a prison official knows of a substantial risk of harm, but the harm occurs anyway, the official is not liable if he responds reasonably to that risk. Id., 511 U.S. at -, 114 S.Ct. at 1982-83.

Decedent’s medical records reveal that he was depressed and. that he had earlier attempted suicide by overdosing on pills he had hoarded that had been prescribed to him in jail for depression.

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Bluebook (online)
947 F. Supp. 1130, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17840, 1996 WL 685750, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-jabe-mied-1996.