UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Filed 10/22/96
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
MICHAEL HENRY MARTIN,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. No. 96-5063
(D.C. No. 94-C-193-H)
TULSA COUNTY BOARD OF (N.D. Okla.)
COMMISSIONERS, JOHN SELPH,
LEWIS HARRIS, ROBERT N. DICK,
TULSA COUNTY SHERIFF
DEPARTMENT, STANLEY GLANZ,
and FRED COTTON,
Defendants-Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before BALDOCK and BRISCOE, Circuit Judges, and LUNGSTRUM, ** District
Judge.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court
generally disfavors the citation of orders and judgments; nevertheless, an order
and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th Cir. R. 36.3.
**
Honorable John W. Lungstrum, District Judge, United States District Court
for the District of Kansas, sitting by designation.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f) and 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Plaintiff, Michael Henry Martin, appeals from the district court’s order
granting summary judgment in favor of defendants on his claim that they inflicted
cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. We affirm.
We review the grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same
standard as the district court. Applied Genetics Int’l, Inc., v. First Affiliated
Secs., Inc., 912 F.2d 1238, 1241 (10th Cir. 1990). “Summary judgment is
appropriate when there is no genuine dispute over a material fact and the moving
party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Russillo v. Scarborough, 935
F.2d 1167, 1170 (10th Cir. 1991).
Plaintiff claims that defendants denied him dental treatment while he was
incarcerated at the Tulsa County jail awaiting trial on criminal charges. He
alleges that defendants delayed or denied him surgery on his jaw for several
weeks due to the cost of the surgery, until he was transferred from the jail to the
Department of Corrections. After he was transferred, the Department of
Corrections would be responsible for the cost. Plaintiff sued the county
commissioners, claiming they failed to provide funding to pay for the dental
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treatment he needed during his stay at the jail. He also sued the sheriff’s
department and sheriff’s personnel, claiming they withheld the necessary
treatment.
“The constitutional protection against deliberate indifference to a prisoner’s
serious medical needs, as announced in Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97
(1976)(Eighth Amendment shields prisoners after adjudication), applies to pretrial
detainees through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Howard
v. Dickerson, 34 F.3d 978, 980 (10th Cir. 1994). To establish a claim based on
the Eighth Amendment, a prisoner must show both that “‘the officials act[ed] with
a sufficiently culpable state of mind’ and [that] the alleged wrongdoing was
objectively ‘harmful enough’ to establish a constitutional violation.” Hudson v.
McMillian, 503 U.S. 1, 8 (1992)(quoting Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294, 298, 303
(1991)). Delay in providing medical care to a prisoner constitutes deliberate
indifference only if it results in substantial harm. Olson v. Stotts, 9 F.3d 1475,
1477 (10th Cir. 1993). Postponing surgery for an extended period, even until the
prisoner’s release from prison, does not provide a cause of action for deliberate
indifference to serious medical needs if the delay would not cause further damage.
White v. Colorado, 82 F.3d 364, 366 (10th Cir. 1996).
Here, the district court found that plaintiff had failed to controvert an
affidavit submitted by Steven Sullivan, D.D.S., head of the oral and maxillofacial
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surgery department at Oklahoma Memorial Hospital, who supervised plaintiff’s
surgery that was performed after plaintiff was transferred to the Department of
Corrections. Dr. Sullivan stated that plaintiff’s condition was not adversely
affected by the delay in performing the surgery, and that a delay of several
months would not have had any impact whatsoever on plaintiff’s condition. An
affidavit submitted by Donal R. Woodward, D.D.S., the dental surgeon who
treated plaintiff while he was at the jail, also stated that any delay in performing
the surgery, even a delay of several months, would not have had an impact on
plaintiff’s condition. Plaintiff points to no evidence to establish that his
condition worsened because of a delay in surgery, or that he suffered unnecessary
pain. Accordingly, plaintiff’s failure “to establish the existence of an element
essential to [his] case, . . . on which [he] will bear the burden of proof at trial,”
directs a finding that there exists “‘no genuine issue as to any material fact.’”
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322-23 (1986)(quoting Fed. R. Civ. P.
56(c)). Moreover, plaintiff did not provide a complete record for our de novo
review. If there exists any evidence to support his claims, we are unable to
review it, and therefore must affirm the district court. See Deines v. Vermeer
Mfg. Co., 969 F.2d 977, 979-80 (10th Cir. 1992).
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The judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District
of Oklahoma is AFFIRMED. The mandate shall issue forthwith.
Entered for the Court
John W. Lungstrum
District Judge
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