Opinion ID: 795353
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Eighth vs. the Fourteenth Amendment

Text: 38 We turn to Defendants' argument that, because complaints of inadequate medical treatment of prisoners are governed by the Eighth Amendment, Estelle, 429 U.S. at 104, 97 S.Ct. 285, the right to medical information asserted by Pabon could not be found in the Fourteenth Amendment. 39 The Supreme Court has instructed that [t]he first step in any [§ 1983] claim is to identify the specific constitutional right allegedly infringed. Albright v. Oliver, 510 U.S. 266, 271, 114 S.Ct. 807, 127 L.Ed.2d 114 (1994) (citing Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 394, 109 S.Ct. 1865, 104 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989)). If a particular Amendment `provides an explicit textual source of constitutional protection' against a particular sort of government behavior, `that Amendment, not the more generalized notion of substantive due process, must be the guide for analyzing these claims.' Id. at 273, 114 S.Ct. 807(quoting Graham, 490 U.S. at 395, 109 S.Ct. 1865). 40 Our view that the right to medical information is grounded in the Fourteenth and not the Eighth Amendment arises from our understanding of the fundamental difference between the rights afforded by each amendment. The Eighth Amendment governs the way in which medical treatment is administered to prisoners because, as the Supreme Court recognized in Estelle, serious medical conditions can result in cruel and unusual punishment if not properly addressed. 429 U.S. at 104, 97 S.Ct. 285. Thus, the protections of the Eighth Amendment reach decisions by prison authorities regarding the manner in which they provide medical care to inmates because improper care may result in the wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain. 41 The Fourteenth Amendment, by contrast, protects the individual's liberty interest in making the decisions that affect his health and bodily integrity. The right to make these decisions, and the corollary right to the information necessary to make them intelligently, is recognized in order to vindicate this fundamental liberty interest in bodily integrity, not to protect against treatment that may amount to cruel and unusual punishment. So rather than concerning itself with prison officials' decisions, it governs individuals' decisions regarding the administration of treatment. These two very different motivations implicate different constitutional protections and justify basing the right to medical information on the Fourteenth Amendment rather than the Eighth. 3 42