Opinion ID: 788254
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Dowell's Eighth Amendment Claim Is Without Merit

Text: 13 For the first time on appeal, Dowell raises an Eighth Amendment argument. He claims that the policy of the Bureau of Prisons is to automatically deny requests for organ transplants; therefore, because he needs a heart transplant to live, it is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence him to any term of imprisonment. Because he did not raise this issue in the district court, we now review for plain error. See United States v. Brumley, 217 F.3d 905, 909 (7th Cir.2000). Plain error review is used to correct only particularly egregious errors for the purposes of preventing a miscarriage of justice. United States v. Kincaid, 212 F.3d 1025, 1030 (7th Cir.2000) (internal quotations and citation omitted). 14 It is true that the government must provide medical care to inmates. See Snipes v. DeTella, 95 F.3d 586, 590 (7th Cir.1996). It is also true that deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain proscribed by the Eighth Amendment. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976) (internal quotations and citation omitted). 15 Dowell does not allege that he has received inadequate medical care while in prison awaiting his trial. He argues only that his rights have been violated because the Bureau of Prisons has a general policy against providing organ transplants. The policy that he cites, however, states clearly that the Medical Director may make an exception to this rule, if the medical or other facts of a particular inmate's case so warrant. Bureau of Prisons, Statement of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (Nov. 18, 1998), at http://www.bop.gov/ipapg/ipaorg.html. Dowell has presented no evidence to show that he is a viable candidate for a heart transplant or that he is being denied the opportunity to receive a new heart by prison officials. Nor has Dowell shown that there has been a deliberate indifference to his medical needs. In fact, he has been and will be receiving care from a federal medical center. Therefore, Dowell's Eighth Amendment claim is without merit.