Opinion ID: 787168
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendants Cox and Houchins

Text: 27 Based on our review of the undisputed summary judgment facts, we cannot conclude the actions or inactions by Cox and Houchins describe conduct so egregious and so outrageous as to shock the contemporary conscience. Cox's failure to conduct face checks of the ADA Unit patients between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. and Houchins's temporary absence from the nurses' station to fill medication orders constitute, at most, a negligent omission and a negligent act, respectively, on which, D.P., the alleged rapist, capitalized to assault Beck. Nor can we conclude Cox's failure to conduct one, at most two, face checks of patients during a 20 to 30-minute time interval on the evening of April 18, or Houchins's temporary absence from the nurses' station to fill medications at the precise moment Beck entered the bathroom actually, or proximately, caused her alleged sexual assault. 28 The summary judgment facts do not permit a reasonable jury to conclude D.P., or any male inpatient on the ADA Unit, posed a known threat to Beck on April 18, 2001, and, even more clearly, the facts do not permit a jury to infer Cox and Houchins deliberately decided not to protect Beck from a known substantial risk of serious harm. Cox's and Houchins's conduct was not so egregious or outrageous that such conduct could be described as conscience-shocking behavior. Negligent conduct is not enough. We, therefore, conclude Beck failed to establish either Cox or Houchins violated Beck's substantive due process rights.