Opinion ID: 1704806
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claim against Nurse Armfield.

Text: Nurse Armfield is the only remaining Defendant who actually participated in the medical treatment of Hafner. Hafner's only claim of indifferent medical treatment by Nurse Armfield concerns her diagnosis and treatment the first time he sought medical care after his injury. He claims she refused to order an X-ray and infers she lied to him about whether there was a doctor available to see him in the clinic. He also claims she failed to follow the health service police [sic] and procedure manual for strains and sprains. He acknowledges Nurse Armfield wrapped his shoulder in an ace bandage and gave him a heating pad to take back to his cell. Taking all of Hafner's assertions as true, there is nothing in Nurse Armfield's treatment that amounts to deliberate indifference to Hafner's serious medical needs. First, because Hafner lied about the manner in which he had been injured, he contributed to Nurse Armfield's decision not to immediately refer him to a doctor. Accord, Mid-Western Electric, Inc. v. DeWild Grant Reckert & Assoc., 500 N.W.2d 250 (S.D.1993) (recognizing contributory negligence as a defense to professional malpractice claims). Second, Hafner has presented no evidence that Armfield ever denied him treatment, ignored his complaint or intentionally treated him incorrectly. Cf., Foulks, 991 F.2d 454 (affirming denial of summary judgment where defendants refused to obtain medical treatment for prisoner taken from hospital to jail with severe head injury which failure to treat required removal of portion of detainee's brain); Carswell v. Bay Cnty., 854 F.2d 454 (11th Cir.1988) (affirming § 1983 violation where, despite repeated requests for over two months, inmate was never examined by a doctor and diabetes went undiagnosed). At most, Hafner's claim against Nurse Armfield pertains to allegations of negligence or disagreement with the medical treatment he received, neither of which rise to the level of a constitutional violation. Certainly an X-ray of [Gamble's] lower back might have been in order and other tests conducted that would have led to appropriate diagnosis and treatment for the daily pain and suffering he was experiencing. But the question whether an X-ray  or additional diagnostic techniques or forms or treatment  is indicated is a classic example of a matter for medical judgment. A medical decision not to order an X-ray, or like measure, does not represent cruel and unusual punishment. At most it is medical malpractice, and as such the proper forum is the state court.... Medical malpractice does not become a constitutional violation merely because the victim is a prisoner. In order to state a cognizable claim, a prisoner must allege acts or omissions sufficiently harmful to evidence deliberate indifference to serious medical needs. Estelle, 429 U.S. at 106-07, 97 S.Ct. at 292-93, 50 L.Ed.2d at 261-62; Martinez v. Turner, 977 F.2d 421, 423 (8th Cir.1992), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 1658, 123 L.Ed.2d 277 (1993). Nor do Nurse Armfield's alleged failures to follow policy manuals and preserve prisoner kites (request slips) amount to deliberate indifference to a serious medical need. It is settled law that officials sued for constitutional violations do not lose qualified immunity simply because their conduct violates some state regulation or administrative regulation. Davis v. Scherer, 468 U.S. 183, 104 S.Ct. 3012, 82 L.Ed.2d 139 (1984); Culbreath v. Block, 799 F.2d 1248 (8th Cir.1986); Popham v. City of Talladega, 742 F.Supp. 1504, 1511 (N.D.Ala.1989), aff'd 908 F.2d 1561 (11th Cir.1990). Viewing the facts most favorably to Hafner, there remain no genuine issues of material fact and Nurse Armfield was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law.