Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_19-cv-01442/USCOURTS-caed-1_19-cv-01442-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
N. Akabike
Defendant
John Jackson
Plaintiff

Document Text:

1

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JOHN JACKSON,

Plaintiff,

v.

N. AKABIKE,

Defendant.

Case No. 1:19-cv-01442-LJO-EPG (PC)

SCREENING ORDER

ORDER ALLOWING PLAINTIFF’S 

COMPLAINT TO PROCEED AGAINST 

DEFENDANT N. AKABIKE FOR 

DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE TO 

SERIOUS MEDICAL NEEDS IN 

VIOLATION OF THE EIGHTH 

AMENDMENT

(ECF NO. 1)

Plaintiff, John Jackson, is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in 

this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On October 15, 2019, Plaintiff filed his

complaint, which is now before the Court for screening. (ECF No. 1.)

The Court finds that Plaintiff has stated a cognizable claim against Defendant N. 

Akabike for deliberate indifference to serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth 

Amendment.

I. SCREENING REQUIREMENT

The Court is required to screen complaints brought by inmates seeking relief against a 

governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). 

The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the inmate has raised claims that are 

legally “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or 

that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 

1915A(b)(1), (2).

Case 1:19-cv-01442-JLT-EPG Document 10 Filed 01/31/20 Page 1 of 6
2

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a), a complaint is required to contain “a short 

and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 

8(a)(2). Detailed factual allegations are not required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements 

of a cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. 

Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 

(2007)). Plaintiff must set forth “sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to 

relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570). The mere 

possibility of misconduct falls short of meeting this plausibility standard. Id. at 679. While a 

plaintiff’s allegations are taken as true, courts “are not required to indulge unwarranted 

inferences.” Doe I v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 572 F.3d 677, 681 (9th Cir. 2009) (citation and 

quotation marks omitted). Additionally, a plaintiff’s legal conclusions are not accepted as true. 

Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678. 

Pleadings of pro se plaintiffs “must be held to less stringent standards than formal 

pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 (9th Cir. 2010) (holding that 

pro se complaints should continue to be liberally construed after Iqbal.

II. SUMMARY OF PLAINTIFF’S COMPLANT

At all relevant times, Plaintiff was incarcerated at the California Substance Abuse 

Treatment Facility (“SATF”) in Corcoran, California. In the Complaint, Plaintiff alleges the 

following:

Plaintiff suffers from severe stomach pain from the condition of Helicobacter pylori

(“H. pylori”).1 Defendant Akabike is Plaintiff’s primary care physician at SATF and is aware 

that Plaintiff suffers from H. pylori and that Plaintiff is in severe stomach pain as a result of this 

condition. Defendant is also aware of the serious medical risks to Plaintiff if the condition is 

ignored and medical treatment is denied or delayed. (ECF No. 1 at 8.) “Plaintiff informed 

Defendant Akabike of having stomach pain [] during appointments, for the last 7 months. . . . 

Defendant Akabike knew of Plaintiff’s medical condition and lack of treatment, but took no 

 

1 Although Plaintiff alleges he suffers from Helicobacterium Pylori, the Court assumes he is referring to 

the condition Helicobacter Pylori.

Case 1:19-cv-01442-JLT-EPG Document 10 Filed 01/31/20 Page 2 of 6
3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

action to ensure that Plaintiff received the necessary medical care, such [as] pain medications 

for this appropriate treatments.” (Id.) “Defendant Akabike ignored and delayed to provide 

medical treatment (Pain medications) and stomach pain medication.” (Id. at 10.) “As a result of 

Defendant Akabike denial and delaying, Plaintiff was subjected to a deprivation of adequate 

medical treatment (Pain medications), exposing [him] to a serious risk of injury stomach.” (Id.) 

Defendant, despite of knowledge about the risk to Plaintiff of not treating the stomach pain for 

his H. pylori, “exposed Plaintiff to the risk of temporary and permanent damage, and was 

intentional, or willful reckless. . . .” (Id.) “The acts and omissions of Defendant Akabike of 

ignoring and delaying medical treatment (Pain medications) to Plaintiff, and failing to heed to 

[Plaintiff’s] pleas that [he] was having stomach pain and failing to adequately monitor [his] 

condition, and in being indifferent to Plaintiff’s severe stomach pain, suffering and injury . . . 

[were] in conscious disregard of an excessive risk of harm to the health and safety of Plaintiff.” 

(Id.)

III. SECTION 1983

The Civil Rights Act under which this action was filed provides:

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, 

of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, 

any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the 

deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and 

laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other 

proper proceeding for redress. . . .

42 U.S.C. § 1983. “[Section] 1983 ‘is not itself a source of substantive rights,’ but merely 

provides ‘a method for vindicating federal rights elsewhere conferred.’” Graham v. Connor, 

490 U.S. 386, 393-94 (1989) (quoting Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 144 n.3 (1979)).

To state a claim under § 1983, a plaintiff must allege that (1) the defendant acted under 

color of state law, and (2) the defendant deprived him of rights secured by the Constitution or 

federal law. Long v. County of Los Angeles, 442 F.3d 1178, 1185 (9th Cir. 2006); see also 

Marsh v. Cnty. of San Diego, 680 F.3d 1148, 1158 (9th Cir. 2012) (discussing “under color of 

state law”). A person deprives another of a constitutional right, “within the meaning of § 1983, 

‘if he does an affirmative act, participates in another’s affirmative act, or omits to perform an 

Case 1:19-cv-01442-JLT-EPG Document 10 Filed 01/31/20 Page 3 of 6
4

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

act which he is legally required to do that causes the deprivation of which complaint is made.’” 

Preschooler II v. Clark Cnty. Sch. Bd. of Trs., 479 F.3d 1175, 1183 (9th Cir. 2007) (quoting 

Johnson v. Duffy, 588 F.2d 740, 743 (9th Cir. 1978)). 

IV. ANALYSIS OF PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT

A prisoner can establish an Eighth Amendment violation arising from deficient medical 

care if he can prove that prison officials were deliberately indifferent to a serious medical need.

Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104 (1976). Assuming the medical need is “serious,” a plaintiff 

must show that the defendant acted with deliberate indifference to that need. Id. “Deliberate

indifference is a high legal standard.” Toguchi v. Chung, 391 F.3d 1051, 1060 (9th Cir. 2004).

It entails something more than medical malpractice or even gross negligence. Id. Deliberate

indifference exists when a prison official “knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate 

health or safety; 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.”

Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837 (1994). Deliberate indifference exists when a prison 

official “den[ies], delay[s] or intentionally interfere[s] with medical treatment, or it may be 

shown by the way in which prison officials provide medical care.” Crowley v. Bannister, 734 

F.3d 967, 978 (9th Cir. 2013) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

Critically, “a difference of opinion between a physician and the prisoner—or between

medical professionals—concerning what medical care is appropriate does not amount to

deliberate indifference.” Snow v. McDaniel, 681 F.3d 978, 987 (9th Cir. 2012) (citing Sanchez 

v. Vild, 891 F.2d 240, 242 (9th Cir. 1989)), overruled on other grounds by Peralta v. Dillard, 

744 F.3d 1076, 1083 (9th Cir. 2014). Instead, to establish deliberate indifference in the context 

of a difference of opinion between a physician and the prisoner or between medical providers, 

the prisoner “‘must show that the course of treatment the doctors chose was medically

unacceptable under the circumstances’ and that the defendants ‘chose this course in conscious 

disregard of an excessive risk to plaintiffs health.’” Id. at 988 (quoting Jackson v. McIntosh, 90 

F.3d 330, 332 (9th Cir. 1996)). In other words, where there has been some arguably appropriate 

treatment, deliberate indifference cannot be established merely by showing disagreement with 

Case 1:19-cv-01442-JLT-EPG Document 10 Filed 01/31/20 Page 4 of 6
5

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

the physician but only by showing that the defendant chose a course of treatment knowing that 

it was inappropriate. Put differently, a court cannot substitute its judgment for that of a medical

professional, but it can examine a medical professional’s good faith in selecting a course of 

treatment.

Here, Plaintiff alleges that he has a serious medical condition, H. pylori, that the 

condition causes him severe pain, and that he has not been receiving treatment from Defendant 

for the condition. Plaintiff also alleges that Defendant is aware of Plaintiff’s serious medical 

condition and the severe pain the condition causes Plaintiff; that Defendant is aware of the risk 

of not treating or delaying treatment of the condition; and that Defendant has acted in conscious 

disregard of Plaintiff’s serious medical condition by not providing Plaintiff with treatment for 

the condition (pain medication).

The Court finds that, for purposes of screening only, Plaintiff has stated a cognizable 

claim against Defendant for deliberate indifference to serious medical needs in violation of the 

Eighth Amendment.2 Accordingly, the Court finds that this claim can proceed past the 

screening stage.

V. CONCLUSION

Plaintiff has stated a cognizable claim against Defendant Akabike for deliberate 

indifference to a serious medical need in violation of the Eighth Amendment. As this is the 

only claim Plaintiff brought in his Complaint, the Court finds service of the Complaint on 

Defendant to be appropriate. The Court will issue a separate order directing such service.

 

2 Plaintiff repeatedly refers specifically to lack of treatment by not providing him with pain medication. 

The Court notes that the lack of treatment alleged by Plaintiff may merely be the result of a difference of opinion 

between Plaintiff and Defendant as to the appropriate treatment. See Snow v. McDaniel, 681 F.3d 978, 987 (9th 

Cir. 2012) (“[A] difference of opinion between a physician and the prisoner—or between medical professionals—

concerning what medical care is appropriate does not amount to deliberate indifference.”). The Court also notes 

that there may be legitimate penological interests in not providing Plaintiff with the pain medication that he seeks. 

See Pullano v. Brammer, 684 Fed. App’x 643, 644 (9th Cir. 2017) (remanding for examination of whether inmate 

who was denied medical treatment experienced pain and suffering that did not serve any penological purpose);

Ramirez-Salgado v. Lewis, 2018 WL 4214906 (E.D. Cal., Sept. 5, 2018) (holding that depriving prisoner of pain 

medication was permitted under the Eight Amendment if doing so was based on legitimate penological interests). 

However, construing the allegations in the Complaint in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, and for purposes of 

screening, the Court finds that the Complaint states a cognizable claim for deliberate indifference to serious 

medical needs. 

Case 1:19-cv-01442-JLT-EPG Document 10 Filed 01/31/20 Page 5 of 6
6

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

Based on the foregoing, it is HEREBY ORDERED that this action proceed against 

Defendant N. Akabike for deliberate indifference to a serious medical need in violation of the 

Eighth Amendment.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: January 30, 2020 /s/

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Case 1:19-cv-01442-JLT-EPG Document 10 Filed 01/31/20 Page 6 of 6