Opinion ID: 775041
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether the Defendants Took Reasonable Steps

Text: 50 While it remains to be seen whether the defendants were actually aware of the substantial risk to Matt's health, there seems to be no evidence that the defendants [took] reasonable steps to prevent the inmate from [committing suicide] as is required by our case law. Turbin, 226 F.3d at 529. Matt was last seen alive by the defendants at 10:00 a.m. In the five hours during which Matt's cell window was covered with toilet paper, there was no apparent attempt to discern whether he was stable. The guards did not use the video camera to check on Matt, nor did anyone take any action until approximately 3:00 p.m. If the defendants were aware of the alleged risk, failing to determine what was going on in Matt's cell could easily be considered egregious enough to rise to the level of deliberate indifference. The evidence here clearly supports an inference that at least some of the guards, if not all of them, were aware of Matt's serious medical need and demonstrated deliberate indifference to that need. 51 There are a number of reasons why defendants assert that the guards cannot be found liable, none of which we find meritorious. Contrary to defendants' allegations, the fact that we have already found that the doctors cannot be held liable does not erect a legal bar that prevents anyone else in the prison from being held liable. See Estelle, 429 U.S. at 107-08 (finding that the claims against the doctor defendants amounted, at most, to medical malpractice, but remanded to the Court of Appeals for consideration of whether a cause of action has been stated against the other prison officials including the prison warden). Defendants further assert that the guards cannot be held liable because they relied upon the doctors' determination that Matt was not a suicide risk. The record, however, at least as currently developed, does not support this assertion. There is no evidence indicating that any of the doctors actually determined that Matt was not suicidal, much less that they then informed the guards that Matt was not suicidal and that the guards then decided not to act based on that information. Our review is intended to determine whether the plaintiff could prevail under any set of facts, not whether the defendant could win under any set of facts. Likewise, the fact that Matt was seen by mental health professionals eleven times during his incarceration does not prevent us from finding that someone--whether a guard or a warden or otherwise--was deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs. The guards' liability is not premised upon the acts or omissions of the medical professionals, it is premised upon their own deliberate indifference to Matt's condition. 52 We will thus consider, subsequently, whether this was a clearly established law at the time of defendants' actions to determine whether this claim should be reinstated. We first turn to consider plaintiff's claims against the final group of defendants--the wardens. 53