FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
December 16, 2005
TENTH CIRCUIT
Clerk of Court
JOHN A. BROWN,
Plaintiff - Appellant, No. 05-3199
v. (D.C. No. 05-CV-3158-GTV)
PRISON HEALTH SERVICES, El (D. Kansas)
Dorado Correctional Facility; and
CORRECT CARE SOLUTIONS, El
Dorado Correctional Facility,
Defendants - Appellees.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before BRISCOE, LUCERO, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this court has
determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the
determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G).
Accordingly, this case is ordered submitted without oral argument.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the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.
John A. Brown, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, appeals the district
court’s denial of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights complaint. In his § 1983
complaint, Brown alleged that diabetes medication previously determined to be
adverse to his health was nevertheless administered to him by prison officials,
with a resulting adverse impact to his physical well-being. Specifically, Brown
alleged that notwithstanding information in his prison medical file indicating a
certain medication, Metformin, should not be administered to him, this same
medication was later administered to him under a different brand name,
Glucophage. Brown sought damages from two corporations providing contract
medical services to correctional facilities in Kansas, asserting that the actions of
the prison medical officials denied him his Eighth Amendment right to be free
from cruel and unusual punishment.
The district court granted judgment in favor of the defendants, concluding
that Brown’s allegations failed to state a claim upon which relief could be
granted. In so doing, the district court first recognized it is well-established that
prison officials violate the Eighth Amendment when they are deliberately
indifferent to a prisoner’s serious medical needs. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97,
104 (1976). Nevertheless, “accidental or inadvertent failure to provide adequate
medical care, or negligent diagnosis or treatment of a medical condition do not
constitute a medical wrong under the Eighth Amendment.” Ramos v. Lamm, 639
F.2d 559, 575 (10th Cir. 1980). Instead, to satisfy the Eight Amendment’s
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deliberate indifference standard, “the official must have a sufficiently culpable
state of mind, which in this context means the official must exhibit deliberate
indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm to an inmate.” Barney v.
Pulsipher, 143 F.3d 1299, 1310 (10th Cir. 1998) (quotation omitted). “Thus, the
deliberate indifference standard in a prison-conditions case is a subjective and not
an objective requirement. That is, a prison official is liable only if the official
knows of and disregards an excessive risk to inmate health and safety. It is not
enough to establish that the official should have known of the risk of harm.” Id.
(quotations and citation omitted).
Upon review of Brown’s allegations, the district court concluded that his
claims failed because there was absolutely no indication that prison officials
knowingly placed Brown on the improper diabetes medication. Instead, the
district court noted that Brown’s allegations reflected at most a state tort claim of
negligence or malpractice and that Brown had, in fact, brought just such a claim
in Kansas state court. For these reasons, the district court dismissed Brown’s
complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted and
entered judgment in favor of the defendants.
This court has reviewed Brown’s appellate brief, the district court’s orders,
and the entire record on appeal. That review demonstrates that the district court’s
resolution of this case is correct. Accordingly, for substantially those reasons set
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out in the district court’s orders dated April 11, 2005 and May 20, 2005, the order
of the district court dismissing Brown’s complaint is hereby AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
Michael R. Murphy
United States Circuit Judge
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No. 05-3199, Brown v. Prison Health Services
LUCERO, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
Brown’s complaint alleges that although his prison medical file indicated
that he would suffer adverse reactions to a particular diabetes medication
(Metformin) a prison doctor nonetheless prescribed the medication under a
different brand name (Glucophage). He further alleged that being placed on the
contraindicated medication for over six months elevated his blood sugars from
240 to 600 daily for the period of time, leading to the onset of neuropathy years
before he would have suffered neuropathy in the normal course of his diabetes,
caused kidney problems, and led to other medical complications. The record
substantiates these claimed injuries.
Given that “[d]eliberate indifference to serious medical needs is shown
when prison officials have prevented an inmate from receiving recommended
treatment,” Ramos v. Lamm, 639 F.2d 559, 575 (10th Cir. 1980), it seems an
unremarkable proposition that an official may engage in deliberate indifference
when administering treatment that is clearly contraindicated. See, e.g., Benson v.
Cady, 761 F.2d 335, 341 (7th Cir. 1985) (“this court has found that an allegation
that the plaintiff inmate was administered penicillin despite his known allergy to
that drug stated an eighth amendment claim”). A response from PHS and facts
developed in discovery might show that PHS is entitled to judgment as a matter of
law, but I cannot agree that this action warranted summary dismissal under 42
U.S.C. § 1997e. I respectfully dissent.