Baird v. AlameidaBaird v. Alameida
ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Introduction
Plаintiff Mark Steven Baird is an insulin-dependent diabetic in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDC”). He is suing former CDC officials under
This Court previously dismissed five of the original eight defendants and granted partial summary adjudication in favor of the remaining defendants on Baird’s claim for injunctive relief. Docket Nos. 35, 88. Currently before the Court is the remaining defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Docket No. 95. For the reasons stated below, the Court GRANTS defendants’ motion and will enter judgment in their favor.
Factual Background 1
Baird was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was a child, and has been dеpendent on insulin ever since. See Deposition of Mark Steven Baird (“Depo.”) at 23-24. Diabetes is a disease characterized by an imbalance of sugar in the body due to the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin. See Declaration of Dr. David C. Araya (“Araya Decl.”) ¶5. It is treated primarily by administering insulin, monitoring food intake, and exercise. Araya Decl. ¶ 5. The proper dosage of insulin is calculated based on the results of blood sugar tests and the amоunt of exercise the patient is receiving. Araya Decl. ¶ 5. Because exercise lowers blood sugar levels, the more exercise a person receives, the less insulin that person needs to balance his blood sugar level. Araya Decl. ¶ 5.
Before his incarceration, Baird received medical training and education about the importance of monitoring his blood sugar levels, taking insulin injections, proper diet, and exercise in оrder to properly treat his diabetes. Depo. at 25, 30-34. He was taught which foods to avoid and how to pick certain foods from a meal and avoid or exchange others. Depo. at 32-33. He became very informed about his condi
In April 1999, at the age of 29, Baird was convicted of a felony and sentenced to eight years in state prison. Depo. at 8, 18, 36. He was first sent to Wasco State Prison (“Wasco”), a reception center, for two months; after that he was transferred to the California Men’s Colony (“CMC”). Depo. at 36, 45, 66. In June 2004, he was transferred to Avenal State Prison (“Ave-nal”). Depo. at 45, 70. He is currently scheduled to be released on December 16, 2005. Depo. at 84.
At Wasco, Baird had his blood sugar tested and received insulin injections twice a day. Depo. at 36-38. He received a sack lunch every day, in addition to his regular meals and at least once supplemented his meals with food purchased from the canteеn. Depo. at 40, 42. He generally exercised four days a week for an hour a day. Depo. at 42-43, 64-65.
Baird was hospitalized twice during his stay at Wasco for treatment of his diabetes. Depo. at 43-44, 47. At the hospital he was fed an American Diabetes Association (“ADA”) diet. Depo. at 44.
After his transfer to CMC, Baird was assigned a primary care physician, whom he initially saw once a month and later every two to three months or as needed. Depo. at 45, 48. His treatment regimen changed: he began receiving insulin injections four times a day and, after an initial lag in blood monitoring, began having his blood sugar tested three times a day. Depo. at 45-48; Araya Deck ¶ 9. His doctor also prescribed adjunct treatments, including a medication to prevent kidney failure. Depo. at 48, 59-60. Baird and his doctor often discussed the best way to keep his blood sugar under control. Depo. at 50. As Baird described it: “they had me actively participаte in the treatment decisions [and] it was an education every time I would go and see a physician there.” Depo. at 50.
Baird’s primary care physician at CMC from February 2002 to February 2004 was David C. Araya, M.D. Araya Deck ¶ 6. Dr. Araya counseled Baird about how to make proper food choices from the standard prison meal — for example, avoiding high sugar items. Araya Deck ¶7. So did Edith Wong, a registered dietician who works as the Food Administrator at CMC. See Declаration of Edith Wong (“Wong Deck”) ¶¶2, 6. Wong also gave Baird a hand-out on carbohydrate counting and talked with him about the theory behind it. Depo. at 50-51, 58, 60, 68-69; see Depo. Ex. 4.
At CMC, Baird had various alternatives to the foods provided in the standard prison meal. He was issued an extra diabetic smack every evening so that he could consume an adequate amount of calories and nutrition each day even if he could not eat all of the items on the prison menu. Ara-ya Deck ¶ 8; Depo. at 52. The snack consisted of two fresh fruits and half of a sandwich. Summerset Deck ¶ 10. He had access to the prison canteen, where he would occasionally buy foods such as soups, crackers, tuna, roast beef, and chili beans Depo. at 56. Sometimes he ate food prepared by other inmates in place of the prison meal. Depo. at 57. And he was allowed to receive packages of food from his family evеry 90 days; they would send him a wide variety of items, including canned foods, crackers, and soups. Depo. at 66.
CMC began serving the “Heart Healthy” diet around 2000 or 2001. Depo. at 53-54. 2 Baird still had to pick and choose the foods he could eat, as he had before. Depo. at 54. 3 Generally, however, he considered the “Heаrt Healthy” diet a better diet than the one previously offered, because it is lower in fat and diabetics need to avoid foods that are high in fat. Depo. at 54-55.
Baird was hospitalized because of his diabetes three times during his five years at CMC. The first two times happened in rapid succession just a few months after his transfer to CMC, when he developed diabetic ketoacidosis. Depo. at 62-63; Ar-aya Deck ¶ 10. At that time he was seen by an outside endocrinologist, who adjusted his insulin dosage. Depo. at 45. His third and last hospitalization at CMC for treatment of his diabetes occurred in late September or October of 2000. Depo. at 62-63. During each of these hospitalizations, he was fed an ADA diet that included items such as pork and yogurt that are not a part of the standard prison diet. Depo. at 63.
There is nothing in the record about the conditions of Baird’s incarceration at Avenal or whether he has been hospitalized since he was transferred there. 4 He stated in his deposition (taken shortly before the pending motion was filed) that he has developed diabetic myelopathy since he has been in the custody, but it is unclear when this happened or whether the conditions of his incarceration had anything to do with it. Depo. at 83. He also contends he is at risk of long-term complications from being unable to control his diabetes properly. Depо. at 83-84.
Procedural History
Baird filed this lawsuit pro se, seeking injunctive relief and damages under
The CDC food plan and standardized department-wide menu for a low fat, “Heart Hеalthy” diet shall be followed by all institutions for all standard meals. No outpatient therapeutic diets shall be prescribed.
[¶]
The DFA shall ensure that the CDC food plan meets the dietary needs of most inmates by providing a “Hearth Healthy” low fat, low salt, diet; that a nutritional analysis of the CDC food plan is done whenever menu changes are made; and that standardized departmental recipes are maintained, consistent with the CDC food plan.
See Declaration of Andrew Pitoniak, Ex. 2, emphasis added.
Baird admits that he has never met or spoken to any of the defendants. Depо. at 75. He did, however, send each of them a letter describing his medical condition and requesting an outpatient therapeutic diet, and on that basis alone he contends that they were personally aware of his serious medical needs and that their failure to act after receiving his letters constitutes deliberate indifference. Depo. at 74-78, 87 & Exs. 8-10. Each defendant has submitted a declaration stating that he does not remember receiving а letter from Baird and that normally his incoming mail from inmates was screened by his staff and he did not review such mail directly. See Alameida Dec. ¶¶ 6-7; Presley Dec. ¶¶ 6-7; Terhune Dec. ¶¶ 6-7. 5
The defendants move for summary judgment on various grounds, arguing, inter alia, that defendants cannot be liable because they have no involvement in Baird’s medical treatment, they lack supervisory liability, and they are entitled to qualified immunity. The Court finds one of their arguments — that the CDC policy Baird challenges is сonstitutional — dispositive. It therefore declines to reach the other potential grounds for summary judgment.
A Preliminary Note About The Evidence
After Baird obtained counsel in this case in August 2004, the Court set a date for the scheduling conference. The parties filed a Joint Scheduling Conference Report as required by
On June 23, 2005, having received a stipulation and proposed order from the parties, the Court extended the discovery cut-off date to August 24, 2005. Docket No. 89.
On July 28, 2005, the parties submitted a second stipulation and proposed order to extend the discovery cut-off to September 19, 2005, representing that plaintiffs counsel needed to take a number of depositions at various California penal institutions, in-
Defendants filed their summary judgment motion on August 17, 2005. Docket No. 95. In support of their motion, they lodged a copy of Baird’s deposition (which they had taken two weeks earlier) and filed declarations (most with exhibits) from each of the three defendants, two nutritionists (one of whom had counseled Baird), one of the physicians who had treated Baird at CMC, and the CDC’s custodian of records. See Docket Nos. 97-104.
Plaintiff filed his opposition on August 30, 2005. Docket No. 108. He did not object to any of the defendants’ evidence, nor did he file any evidence оf his own. Instead, he filed a declaration of counsel stating his intention to rely on Baird’s deposition (already lodged by the defendants) as support for his opposition. Docket No. 106;
see
At the very least, plaintiff has failed to file a motion under
Finally, in his opposition to the summary judgment motion, Baird recites 19 “facts” that he contends he will be able to prove at trial to demonstrate that the “Heart Healthy” diet is inadequate for diabetic inmates. Docket No. 108 at 3-5. He cites no evidentiary support for any of these purported facts. A few of them (which are immaterial and undisputed) find support in his deposition; most do not.
It is well established that “a party cannot mаnufacture a genuine issue of material fact merely by making assertions in its legal memoranda.”
S.A. Empresa De Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense v. Walter Kidde & Co.,
The Applicable Legal Standards
Under
Prison officials’ dеliberate indifference to an inmate’s serious medical needs violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and will support a claim under
Discussion
The gravamen of Baird’s lawsuit is his contention that the defendants demonstrated deliberate indifference to his serious medical nеeds by adopting and maintaining a policy — DOM § 54080.6 — that requires the CDC to serve inmates the “Heart Healthy” diet and expressly prohibits physicians from prescribing ADA diets on an outpatient basis for insulin-dependent inmates, and by failing to rescind the policy after he sent them each a letter. See Depo. at 73-79 (identifying this as the sole basis for Baird’s claim against the three defendants). Baird believes he should be able to get the same diet he was served during his hospital stays even when he is not in the hospital, provided a physician prescribes it.
Although he alleged in his complaint that he arrived at Wasco with a physician’s order that he be fed an ADA diet, Complaint ¶ 4, Baird did not testify to that in his deposition and presented no evidence on that point. Nor did he present any evidence that any physician offered or tried to prescribe him a therapeutic ADA diet on an outpatient basis after he entered into the custody of the CDC. Allegations in a pleading, of course, cannot be used to defeat summary judgment; the opposing party must present admissible
evidence
to do so.
Assuming it is, Baird has failed to demonstrate any triable issue of material fact. In his opposition to the summary judgment motion, Baird identifies only one triablé issue: “whether the ‘Heаrt Healthy1 diet, provided to all inmates in the custody of the CDC, meets the minimum requirements of the Eighth Amendment for insulin dependant diebetic [sic] inmate/patients.” Docket No. 108 at 2-3; see also id. at 21 (stating, in Conclusion, that summary judgment should be denied because: “Whether the ‘heart healthy’ diet is adequate to meet the requirements of the Eighth Amendment as to diabetic inmates is a genuine issue of material fact in this case which needs to be litigated.”).
The defendants presented evidence on this issue through the declarations of Dr. Araya (a medical doctor) and Ms. Wong (a registered dietician), both of whom personally worked with Baird in helping him
Baird has presented no evidence to illustrate why he believes the “Heart Healthy” diet is inappropriate for insulin-dependent diabetics. There is no evidence in the record concerning the contents of a typical “Hearth Healthy” meal, which food items Baird feels he cannot eat, or the overall percentage of food items per meal that he must avoid.
All that Baird offers on this issue— the issue he has identified as the one triable issue — is his own opinion that the diet is unhealthy for him and that he should be given an outpatient ADA diet. But in the Ninth Circuit, an inmate’s personal disagreement with prison officials about his need for a particular medical treatment cannot give rise to a civil rights claim based on deliberate indifference.
See Franklin v. Oregon,
Even if Baird had been able to find a physician who supportеd his opinion, his case could not have survived summary judgment. As noted above, Dr. Araya, Baird’s primary care physician at CMC, was of the medical opinion that the “Heart Healthy” diet
is
appropriate for diabetic inmates. Araya Decl. ¶ 4. Thus, the most Baird could possibly have shown would have been a simple difference in medical opinion, which cannot support a claim of deliberate indifference to serious medical needs.
See Sanchez v. Vild,
Finally, “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,
In an attempt to show that the CDC’s failure to authorize therapeutic outpatient diets harmed him, Baird points to the fact that he was hospitalized twice while at Wasco and three times while at CMC (a total of five times over a period of roughly five years). Depo. at 44, 62-63. He has presented no medical evidence, however, that these hospitalizations resulted from his diet. Indeed, the record shows that during the three years between 1996 and 1998 — before he was incarcerated, when he was free to eat any food of his choosing— he was hospitalized three times for treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis. Depo. at 84-85. The rate of hospitalization (averaging once per year) therefore remained unchanged when he entered into CDC custody. The last hospitalization he described in his deposition occurred in September or October of 2000. There is no evidence that he has had to be hospitalized due to his diabetes since then.
The Court concludes that there is no triable issue of material fact and defendants are entitled to judgment as a matter of law for the reasons stated.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
. Except where exрressly noted, the following facts are undisputed.
. Defendants contend the CDC has been providing the "Heart Healthy” diet since 1997. See Sommerset Dec. ¶ 4. Because this is a summary judgment proceeding, the Court gives Baird's evidence the benefit of the doubt. The point is immaterial, in any event.
. When Baird first arrived at CMC — before the facility began serving the "Heart Healthy” diet — a physician there told him the diet was not very good for diabetics. Depo. at 51. He advised Baird to swap food items with other inmates (i.e., trade items he could not eat for those he could) and, if possible, to buy foods from the canteen to supplement the meals provided by the state. Depo. 51-52.
.Because Baird filed his complaint while still in the custody of the CMC, his allegations concern events that happened during his time at Wasco and CMC. He has not amended the complaint to add any allegations concerning his stay at Avenal.
. Whether the defendаnts actually received the letters and were therefore aware of Baird's medical condition and concerns is immaterial here because, as explained below, the evidence will not support a claim of deliberate indifference as a matter of law.
. In fact, in January 2004, Dr. Araya evaluated Baird and ordered laboratory studies to monitor his diabetes. Araya Decl. ¶ 11. In Dr. Araya's words, the "laboratory results at that time could be interpreted to indicate that inmate Baird had relatively good control of his diabetes during the previous 12 months on the ["Heart Healthy”] diet.” Araya Decl. ¶ 11.