Court Opinion

ID: 9463817
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:17:09.049381+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:18.016594
License: Public Domain

WINTER, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. While I recognize that the decision here is governed by Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 97 S.Ct. 285, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976), I think that a proper application of that rule to this case requires reversal and remand for trial.
The district court granted summary judgment for defendants. It could do so properly only if there was “no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving par*1287ty is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Rule 56(c), F.R.Civ.P.
It is not disputed that plaintiff had an injury to his left eye, dating from childhood, when he was received at the institution. It is not disputed that, after his initial complaint, his left eye was examined by the prison doctor, a general practitioner. While plaintiff complains about the quality of the examination and the competence of the prison doctor, I would be inclined to agree that under Estelle these complaints, if true, would amount to no more than a claim of medical malpractice under state law and do not state a valid claim of medical mistreatment under the Eighth Amendment.
But plaintiff, by affidavit, asserts more. He claims that in April and May of 1975, he saw the prison doctor a number of times with respect to his continued claims of pain and fading vision. On the next visit after the initial one, he swears that the prison doctor said there was nothing wrong with him “without even an examination." (App. 17.) He says further that he saw the prison doctor “during April and May, at which times he received the type of treatment described above.” (App. 17.) A later summary statement is that he was not examined by an eye specialist until he had “suffered through almost three full months of pain and fading vision [and] after three months of receiving no medical treatment. .” (App. 18.) It is not disputed that plaintiff did not see an eye specialist until after he filed this § 1983 action; and when examined, he was found to be suffering from serious eye disease.
While it is true that the prison doctor disputes that he conducted no examinations but for the first, his controverting affidavits provide no basis for entering summary judgment against plaintiff. Rule 56. Summary judgment against plaintiff could properly be entered only if his affidavit were insufficient to set forth a cause of action. Affording it the liberality to which a pro se pleading is entitled, I read it to assert that, but for his initial complaint, plaintiff was afforded no examination despite repeated complaints of pain and fading vision.
Estelle is specific:
We therefore conclude that deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain,” Gregg v. Georgia, supra [428 U.S. 153], at 173, [96 S.Ct. 2909, at 2925, 49 L.Ed.2d 859], proscribed by the Eighth Amendment. This is true whether the indifference is manifested by prison doctors in their response to the prisoner’s needs or by prison guards in intentionally denying or delaying access to medical care or intentionally interfering with the treatment once prescribed. Regardless of how evidenced, deliberate indifference to a prisoner’s serious illness or injury states a cause of action under § 1983. (Footnotes eliminated.) (pp. 104-105, 97 S.Ct. p. 291.)
A refusal to conduct another medical examination of a prisoner who has a known preexisting injury despite his repeated complaints of pain and fading vision is, in my view, the deliberate indifference which Estelle holds is in violation of the eighth amendment. I think that entry of summary judgment for defendants was improper. I would reverse and remand for an evidentiary determination of plaintiff’s claims.