Carolyn PHILLIPS, Representative of the Estate of Sonya Denise Phillips, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ROANE COUNTY, TENNESSEE, et al., Defendants, Ken Yager, Mayor of Roane County, David Haggard, Sheriff of Roane County, Gloria Wright, Administrative Director of Roane County Ambulance Services, Fay Hall, Linda Mayes, John Mayes, Kelly Jackson, Cathy Goss, Thomas Pio, Sandra Miller, Stacee French, Linda Carter, Jesse Rittenhouse, Thomas Melton, “officer” Belcher, Correctional Officers for Roane County, Howie Rose, Duranda Tipton, Roane County E.M.T., all in their individual capacities, Defendants-Appellants (07-5405), Thomas Boduch, M.D., Defendant-Appellant (07-5407).
Nos. 07-5405, 07-5407
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Argued: March 18, 2008. Decided and Filed: July 25, 2008.
534 F.3d 531
I do not read the district court‘s statement here as saying that the “cаreer offender” guidelines should never be applied to result in a sentence that is in fact within those guidelines. Although the district judge was somewhat cursory in stating, as our court summarizes at page 5, that the chosen sentence of 150 months of imprisonment would “provide[ ] a just punishment . . . appropriately fit[ ] this defendant and his offense . . . [and] provide[ ] an adequate public deterrence,” I believe enough was said to indicate that the court exercised, and did not abuse, its discretion.
In logic, I find it difficult to express a way in which a judge can adequately say that a sentence is “too much” or “too little” in any form of words. As I read the trial transcript, the district judge obviously knew the characteristics of the defendant before him, considered the advice of the guidelines, and decided to reject it, invоking the language of
While a more extensive, fact-laden, or lyrical exegesis might have been possible or preferable, what I take from the record is that the judge did consider thoughtfully the facts of this case and did enough that he did not abuse his discretion.
Before: RYAN, SILER, and COLE, Circuit Judges.
COLE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which SILER, J., joined. RYAN, J. (pp. 545-46), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
OPINION
R. GUY COLE, JR., Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff-Appellee Carolyn Phillips, the representative of Sonya Denise Phillips‘s Estate (hereinafter “the Estate“), filed this claim under
Sonya Phillips died on December 8, 2000, while awaiting trial for the murder of her infant child at the Roane County Jail, located in Kingston, Tennessee. Examiners determined her cause оf death to be diabetes-ketoacidosis, or untreated diabetes.
The events leading up to Phillips‘s death began on November 24, 2000, when correctional officers found her unconscious in her cell, not breathing, and with no detectable pulse. Before paramedics arrived, Phillips had regained consciousness, though fellow inmates observed that Phillips continued to “walk[] very slow,” and appeared to be “very swollen,” with her “skin color [] almost purplish.” When one of the paramedics, Duranda Tipton, asked whether Phillips should be transported to the emergency room for evaluation, Captain Fay Hall responded that she should be left in the jail if she was not in “distress.”
Over the next two weeks, Phillips‘s physical condition continued to deteriorate. Nedra Forrester, an inmate confined with Phillips during this time, explained that she had to “clothe and bathe [Phillips] because she could not do these things on her own.” Forrester also observed that Phillips “became worse as time went on, and began vomiting more often, and passing out. At some point [Phillips] began vomiting what appeared to be blood.” According to Melinda Shirks, a respiratory therapist detained in the Roane County Jail at the time of Phillips‘s death, Phillips “appeared very sick [and][h]er breathing sounded horrible, like the type of breathing one does when they are smothering, almost fluid like.” Concerned about her condition, prison officials removed Phillips from her prison cell to a special holding cell for medical evaluation, where Phillips continued to complain of chest pains, nausea, constipation, and fatigue.
On November 27, Phillips filed a medical request form stating that she was experiencing “chest pains, numbness on [the] left side [of her body], legs, [and] arms,” that she could not “stand up over 4 to 5 min[utes] without getting dizzy,” and that she “need[ed] to see [a] doctor as soon as possible.” Two days later, on November 29, Dr. Thomas Boduch, a contract doctor with the Roane County Jail, gave Phillips a brief examination in which he saw her for a total of six minutes. According to Dr. Boduch, Phillips reported that all her previous symptoms had disappeared except for knee pain, for which Dr. Boduch prescribed Ibuprofen.
Unsurprisingly, the Estate views this interaction quite differently. An inmate who spoke to Phillips immediately after the examination testified that Dr. Boduch “just glanced at her and prescribed some pill,” and “failed to even touch her.” The Estate also alleges that Dr. Boduch knew of her collapse on November 24, but instead of following the protocols that he had been responsible for at the jail, which would have required officials to transport Phillips to an emergency room, Dr. Boduch took no action.
On December 4, Phillips filed another medical request form complaining of “nausea, constipat[ion],” and a possible “kidney infection.” When Dr. Boduch appeared for his regularly scheduled weekly visit two days later, Phillips was unavailable because she had been transported to a previously scheduled psychiatric appointment. In her absence, Dr. Boduch reviewed her medical request and prescribed antibiotics and ordered a urinalysis, but failed to follow up with Phillips or confirm that the test had been completed.
A few days later, correctional officers again placed Phillips in a holding cell for medical observation. When Phillips con
On the morning of December 8, officers found Phillips lying on her cell floor with blood coming from her mouth, apparently from an injured lip. Later that day, at approximately 3:00 p.m., Captain Hall contacted Ridgeview Psychiatric Hospital, a facility from which Phillips regularly receivеd treatment, to inquire whether Phillips was overly medicated, since Phillips appeared to be dizzy, lethargic, and nauseated. In response, a doctor at Ridgeview directed correctional officers to reduce Phillips‘s dosage of Zyprexa. At approximately 5:20 p.m., officers again found Phillips unconscious; this time they could not revive her. After being transported to the Roane County Medical Center, Phillips was pronounced dead.
Within twelve days of her death, the Estate filed a
The correctional officers, paramedics, governmental supervisors, and governmental employees collectively filed a motion for summary judgment, which asserted a defense of qualified immunity. Independently, Dr. Boduch also filed a motion for summary judgment claiming qualified immunity.
Considering each group of defendants independently, the district court denied their motions. The court first found that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the correctional officers, paramedics, and Dr. Boduch were deliberately indifferent to Phillips‘s serious medical сondition. Estate of Phillips ex rel. Phillips v. Roane County, No. 3:00-CV-692 (630), 2007 WL 788325, at *5-8 (E.D.Tenn. Mar.14, 2007). The court also determined that the correctional officers’ failure to follow established protocols demonstrated a practice or custom of deliberate indifference to inmates’ serious medical needs. Id. at *7-8.
In response to the Defendants’ claim for qualified immunity, the court explained that “[b]ecause determining deliberate indifference to a serious medical need in this context is such a fact-intensive endeavor, summary judgment is improper. In short, where the legal question of qualified immunity turns upon which version of the facts one accepts, the jury, not the judge, must determine liability, and thus summary judgment should not be granted.” Id. at *9. The Defendants timely appealed the district court‘s denial of qualified immunity.
II. JURISDICTION
Although “[a] denial of summary judgment is generally not a final judgment” appealable to this court, parties may appeal a “collateral order[ ] where (1) the defendant is a public official asserting the defense of qualified immunity, and (2) the issue appealed concerns not which facts the parties might be able to prove, but
“Where qualified immunity is denied due to a lingering question of whether the evidence supports a finding that particular offensive conduct occurred, we would lack appellate jurisdiction because the qualified immunity determination of whether a constitutional violation took place is inextricably linked to the merits of the underlying action.” Meals v. City of Memphis, 493 F.3d 720, 727 (6th Cir.2007) (citing Behrens v. Pelletier, 516 U.S. 299, 313 (1996)). Thus, to the extent that the Defendants’ arguments contest the Estate‘s version of the facts, or the inferences drawn from them—e.g., whether the evidence adequately shows that each defendant knew of and consciously disregarded a serious medical condition—we lack jurisdiction to consider those arguments. Cf. Williams v. Mehra, 186 F.3d 685, 690 (6th Cir.1999) (en banc).
III. ANALYSIS
This Court reviews a district court‘s grant of summary judgment on the ground of qualified immunity de novo. Williams, 186 F.3d at 689. Summary judgment is appropriate where the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.
“To state a claim under
Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, “government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982). In determining whether the government officials in this case are entitled to qualified immunity, we ask two questions: First, viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, has the plaintiff has shown that a constitutional violation has occurred? Second, was the right clearly established at the time of
The district court concluded that the first step of the qualified immunity inquiry—whether the Estate had shown a constitutional violation—and the merits of Phillips‘s deliberate indifference claims were identical, since both concerned the reasonableness of the correctiоnal officers’ conduct in light of the circumstances the officers faced. On this basis, the district court found summary judgment based on qualified immunity inappropriate. See Phillips, 2007 WL 788325, at *9 (“[W]here the legal question of qualified immunity turns upon which version of the facts one accepts, the jury, not the judge, must determine liability, and thus summary judgment should not be granted.“).
But we believe that the district court erred in deferring the qualified immunity analysis to the jury. In so finding, we begin with the presumption that “[q]ualified immunity is ‘an immunity from suit rather than a mere defense to liability; and like an absolute immunity it is effectively lost if a case is erroneously permitted to go to trial.‘” Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372, 376 n.2 (2007) (quoting Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526 (1985)). “The approach [the district court] adopted—to deny summary judgment any time a material issue of fact remains on the [deliberate indifference claim]—could undermine the goal of qualified immunity to ‘avoid excessive disruption of government and permit the resolution of many insubstantial claims on summary judgment.‘” Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 202 (2001) (citing Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818). Thus, in a suit against government officials for an alleged violation of a constitutional right, the court—not the jury—must consider the “threshold question” of whether “the facts alleged show the officer‘s conduct violated a constitutional right.” Id. at 201. We review de novo whether those facts as alleged by the Estate establish a prima facie case of deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, and whether that right was clearly established.
A. Was there a Constitutional Violation?
The Eighth Amendment‘s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment generally provides the basis to assert a
A constitutional claim for deliberate indifference to serious medical needs requires a showing of objective and subjective components. The objective component requires a plaintiff to show the existence of a “sufficiently serious” medical need. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834 (1994). We have previously explained that “where a plaintiff‘s claims arise frоm an injury ‘so obvious that even a layperson would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor‘s attention,’ . . . it is sufficient to
1. Objective Component
In the light most favorable to the Estate, the facts show that on November 24, 2000, approximately two weeks prior to Phillips‘s death, fellow inmates found her unconscious, not breathing, and without a pulse. Over the next two weeks, Phillips repeatedly complained to prison officials about her deteriorating physical condition, including symptoms of “chest pains, numbness on [the] left side [of her body], legs, [and] arms,” dizziness, vomiting, “nausea, constipat[ion],” and a possible “kidney infectiоn.” One fellow inmate described Phillips as “extremely sick,” and noted that her condition “was obvious to normal persons.” From this, we conclude that these symptoms show the existence of a sufficiently serious medical condition, which was “so obvious that even a layperson would easily recognize the necessity for a doctor‘s attention.” Blackmore, 390 F.3d at 899-900 (citation omitted).
2. Subjective Component
The next issue is (1) whether the facts when viewed in the light most favorable to the Estate show that the Defendants had subjective knowledge of Phillips‘s serious need for medical attention; and (2) provided they did, whether the Defendants disregarded that need.
(a) Correctional Officers Defendants
In the light most favorable to the Estate, the facts show that each of the correctional officers knew of Phillips‘s condition. First, on November 24, 2000, the day in which fellow inmates found Phillips unconscious, officers Linda Mаyes, John Mayes, Kelly Jackson, Jesse Rittenhouse, Fay Hall, and Duranda Tipton were on duty. Second, and on that same day, correctional officers placed Phillips in a holding cell intended for inmates with serious conditions so that officers could monitor closely the inmates’ health status. According to prison jail logs, the entire time Phillips remained in the holding cell for observation, she continued to exhibit signs of a serious medical condition, including nausea, vomiting of blood, swelling, lethargy, and chest pains. And when an inmate is placed in this type of holding cell, correctional officers must inform the next incoming shift of the reason the inmate had been placed under observation. Finally, the record reflects that on November 27, December 2, December 6, and again on December 7—а period in which every correctional officer defendant had been on
The facts also show that the correctional officers possessed a sufficiently culpable state of mind in denying Phillips the appropriate medical care. Although we have acknowledged that the requisite state of mind “еntails something more than mere negligence,” id. at 835, the Estate does not need to show that the correctional officers acted with the “very purpose of causing harm or with knowledge that harm will result,” id. In this regard, we find persuasive the correctional officers’ disregard of prison protocols, which describe the actions that officers should take when an inmate makes certain medical complaints or exhibits certain medical symptoms. Most notably, when the inmate complains of chest pain, the protocols require the officers to “[t]ransport [the inmate] to Roane Medical Center ER for evaluation.” As we have previously discussed, on multiple separate occasions between November 24 and December 8, Phillips complained of serious symptоms, including chest pains, but at no point did the correctional officers transport her to a hospital emergency room for diagnosis.
Moreover, according to the affidavit of Forrester, a fellow inmate, Phillips “was extremely sick, and it was obvious to normal persons.” When Forrester told some correctional officers that she believed Phillips needed medical attention, “[t]hey would not listen, but instead, just walked on by.” One eyewitness, Patrick Cooley, an attorney from Kingston, Tennessee who was at the jail just hours before Phillips was found dead, heard an unidentified correctional officer say to Hall, “I am trying to give [Phillips] her medicine and she‘s acting like she‘s sick again.” According to Cooley, “[t]he statement made by the unidentified corrections officer was made in a tone that clearly indicated that such medical problems have been ongoing, and that jail personnel, including the unidentified corrections officer, were deliberately indifferent to the medical treatment of Sonya Phillips.”
Given the substantial evidence before the district court that Phillips exhibited life-threatening symptoms over a twoweek period, and the correctional officers’ failure to transport her to a hospital for diagnosis, we conclude that there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate the subjective component of deliberate indifference. The correctional officers may “not escape liability if the evidence showed that [they] merely refused to verify underlying facts that [they] strongly suspected to be true, or declined to confirm inferences оf risk that [they] strongly suspected to exist.” Farmer, 511 U.S. at 843 n. 8. See also Estate of Carter v. City of Detroit, 408 F.3d 305, 313 (6th Cir.2005) (“In most cases in which the defendant is alleged to have failed to provide treatment, there is no testimony about what inferences the defendant in fact drew. Nonetheless, in those cases, a genuine issue of material fact as to deliberate indifference can be based on a strong showing on the objective component.“).
The correctional officers argue on appeal that the district court erred by not addressing the subjective component of a deliberate indifference claim as to each
That being said, we do not read Garretson as prescribing a rule that plaintiffs cannot present general allegations to prove that each individual defendant has the requisite knowledge for deliberate indifference. Though broad and conclusory accusations should not necessarily be imputed to each individual defendant, here, the Estate contends: (1) that each individual officer knew of Phillips‘s collapse on November 24 and her subsequent complaints of other symptoms, (2) that her deteriorating physical condition two weeks prior to her death was so obvious that no reasonable officer working at the jail could have seen her and not disregarded that risk, and (3) that each individual officer had clear instructions to transport an inmate with such symptoms to an emergency room, but
(b) Paramedic Defendants
In the light most favorable to the Estate, the facts show that Duranda Tipton, the paramedic who responded to the incident on November 24, knew of Phillips‘s condition. Tipton filed an ambulance report indicating that Phillips was found by prison officials to be unresponsive, with no pulse or respiration. Although Phillips regained consciousness prior to the paramedics’ arrival, Tipton also noted in her report that Phillips complained of stiffness in her extremities, chest pain, difficulty in breathing, and nausea after she regained consciousness. In her deposition, Tipton also admitted that Phillips‘s symptoms were consistent with post-cardiac arrest.
The facts also show that Tipton possessed a sufficiently сulpable state of mind when denying Phillips the appropriate medical care. According to the testimony of Dr. Robert Dukes, Medical Director of Roane Medical Center, “the function of EMS is not to examine, diagnose, and treat patients, but instead, to transport patients who need help to the emergency department.” As such, when a person is reported to have no pulse, the protocols require paramedics to transport that person to an emergency room for evaluation
Nevertheless, we conclude that the district court erred in denying qualified immunity to Howie Rose, the paramedic called to examine Phillips the morning of her death. Nothing in the record indicates that Rose was informed of Phillips‘s cardiac arrest on November 24, or her complaints of chest pain, nausea, and vomiting. When Rose found Phillips in her cell, she appeared “awake and alert, [and] answered questions appropriately.” Rose checked Phillips‘s blood pressure, pulse, skin, respiration rate, pupils, and abdomen, which all appeared normal. Although Rose advised Hall to contact a physician, he noted that “nothing [he] found at that moment really alarmed [him]. All of [Phillips‘s] vital signs were within normal limits and her level of consciousness was . . . awake and alert.” As such, the Estate has failed to allege that Rose had knowledge of Phillips‘s serious need for medical attention. We therefore reverse the district court‘s denial of qualified immunity to Rose.
(c) Supervisor Defendants
In the light most favorable to the Estate, the facts are insufficient to show that Yager (the Mayor of Roane County), Haggard (the Sheriff of Roane County), and Wright (the Administrative Director of the ambulance services), met the requisite standard for deliberate indifference. The Estate contends, and the district court agreed, that these three supervisors’ collective failure to train their employees as to the proper protocols constituted sufficient evidence that they should held liable in their individual capacities. But we believe that this improperly conflates a
“This court has held that
Although the district court found that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Roane County had a policy or custom of deliberately ignoring prisoners’ medical needs, that finding is not on appeal. See Meals, 493 F.3d at 727 (a city is not entitled to appeal the district court‘s denial of summary judgment on an interlocutory appeal). The Estate‘s general allegations that the correctional officers
(d) Dr. Thomas Boduch
Finally, we conclude that the facts, as alleged by the Estate, show that Dr. Boduch knew of and consciously disregarded a serious medical risk to Phillips. In сases involving mistreatment by medical personnel, this Court has held that “less flagrant conduct [than that of other government officials] may constitute deliberate indifference.” Terrance v. Northville Reg‘l Psychiatric Hosp., 286 F.3d 834, 843 (6th Cir.2002). Although a government doctor may be entitled to qualified immunity, to be so he “has a duty to do more than simply provide some treatment to a prisoner who has serious medical needs; instead, the doctor must provide medical treatment to the patient without consciously exposing the patient to an excessive risk of serious harm.” LeMarbe v. Wisneski, 266 F.3d 429, 439 (6th Cir.2001). To determine whether Dr. Boduch‘s conduct rose to that level, we ask whether a reasonable doctor in his position could have concluded that a substantial risk of serious harm to Phillips existed. Id.
Like the correctional-officer defendants, Dr. Boduch knew of the events of Nоvember 24, in which Phillips was found unconscious. Instead of following the very protocols that he implemented for the correctional officers, which require officials to transport inmates to an emergency room when suffering from chest pain, Dr. Boduch took no action. Furthermore, according an affidavit submitted by Davis, a physician licensed in Tennessee, Dr. Boduch‘s actions—or more accurately, his failure to act—constituted a callous indifference to Phillips‘s medical needs. Davis opined that during the period of November 24 to December 8, when Phillips complained of nausea, vomiting, and chest pains, “Boduch failed to establish and maintain a medical record for this patient that would meet any minimum criterion for an acceptable medical records. . . .”
Dеspite Phillips‘s complaints and documented ailments, on November 29, Dr. Boduch only gave her a brief examination—if you can even call it that—in which he saw her for a total of six minutes, ran no tests, and, according to at least one inmate, “failed to even touch her.” Dr. Boduch ultimately prescribed Ibuprofen for her ailments. A few days later, when Phillips submitted a medical request in which she complained of a possible “kidney infection” and “odor from urine,” Dr. Boduch ordered a urinalysis, but failed to follow up or confirm that the test had been done. We believe that these allegations, conceded as true for the purposes of this appeal, are sufficient to establish that Dr. Boduch had knowledge of Phillips‘s serious need for medical attention and disregarded that need. To the extеnt that Dr. Boduch now disputes those facts and contends that his actions were reasonable, we lack jurisdiction to hear those arguments on an interlocutory appeal. See Williams, 186 F.3d at 690.
“For a right to be clearly established, ‘[t]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.‘” Feathers v. Aey, 319 F.3d 843, 848 (6th Cir.2003) (quoting Russo v. City of Cincinnati, 953 F.2d 1036, 1042 (6th Cir.1992)) (alteration in original).
At the time of Phillips‘s death, she was entitled to medical attention under the Fourteenth Amendment. In Estate of Carter, 408 F.3d at 313, this Court recognized that “[a]s early as 1972, this court stated ‘where the circumstances are clearly sufficient to indicate the need of medical attention for injury or illness, the denial of such aid constitutes the deprivation of constitutional due process.‘” Id. (quoting Fitzke v. Shappell, 468 F.2d 1072, 1076 (6th Cir.1972)); see also Estate of Owensby v. City of Cincinnati, 414 F.3d 596, 604 (6th Cir. 2005) (“[T]he Fourteenth Amendment right of pretrial detainees to adequate medical care is, and has long been, clearly established.“). To make this right absolutely apparent, “in 1992, this Court explicitly held that a pretrial detainee‘s right to medical treatment for a serious medical need has been established since at least 1987.” Estate of Carter, 408 F.3d at 313 (citing Heflin v. Stewart County, 958 F.2d 709, 717 (6th Cir.1992)).
IV. CONCLUSION
For the aforementioned reasons, we AFFIRM the denial of qualified immunity to the correctional officers, Tipton, and Dr. Boduch, REVERSE the denial of qualified immunity to Yager, Haggard, Wright, and Rose, and REMAND this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
RYAN, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
In my view the correctional officers are entitled to claim qualified immunity because Phillips has not “allege[d] facts [in the complaint] which, if true, would show that [each officer] being sued subjectively perceived facts from which to infer substantial risk to the prisoner, that he did in fact draw the inference, and that he then disregarded that risk.” Comstock v. McCrary, 273 F.3d 693, 703 (6th Cir.2001).
At the heart of this case lies the Eighth Amendment which proscribes “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The Supreme Court has held that when the victim of mistreatment by the jailers is a pretrial detainee, his entitlement to recovering damages is rooted in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. City of Revere v. Massachusetts Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239, 244 (1983). The pretrial detainee succeeds in alleging an Eighth Amendment violation or something analogous to it merely by asserting “deliberate indifference to [his] serious medical needs.” Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104 (1976). Additionally, jailers may he held liable to pretrial detainees for “deliberate indifference” to the detainee‘s “serious medical needs” if the complainant can prove that the accused jailer “[1] subjectively pеrceived facts from which to infer substantial risk to the prisoner, [2] that he did in fact draw the inference, and [3] that he then disregarded that risk.” Comstock, 273 F.3d at 703.
In Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 114 S.Ct. 1970, 128 L.Ed.2d 811 (1994), the Supreme Court explicitly imposed a requirement that a defendant must be shown to be subjectively culpable in order to conclude that he was deliberately indifferent
A state actor/jailer is, of course, immune from suit for injury and even death of a pretrial detainee unless each of the elements of a “deliberate indifference” claim is alleged with specificity in the
The majority opinion uses the “obviousness” rationale to conclude that each officer “had to” have known of the serious risk to Phillips‘s health and was therefore purposefully indifferent to her. But whether each officer knew or did not know of Phillips‘s condition is not the point; the issue is whether the plaintiff has alleged specific facts asserting that each jailer did know of the seriousness of Phillips‘s health problems because he perceived facts sufficient to infer it; that he drew the inference; and that he chose to disregard the risk. It is clear to me that Phillips has not made these allegations.
Phillips has not alleged facts that each defendant-correctional officer was deliberately indifferent to Phillips‘s serious medical needs for two principal reasons: 1) the absence of allegations that each officer was aware of facts from which he must have concluded that Phillips was at serious risk; and 2) the absence of allegations of fact asserting that each officer chose to, and did, disregard the inference that he had drawn that Phillips was at serious risk. Phillips‘s jailers and other personnel expended considerable effort in trying to get to the root cause of her illness. Certainly, it cannot be concluded that each officer must have known that she was at serious risk and that the treatment method employed was insufficient to address this need. And the scant and generalized allegations of Phillips‘s complaint do not assert that the correctional officers actually perceived that she was at serious risk.
It is important to remember that at all times, the burden remains with Phillips to show that each of the correctional officers is not entitled to qualified immunity. Rather than alleging facts that demonstrate that each defendant was deliberately indifferent to Phillips‘s serious medical needs, Phillips presents only broad and conclusory allegations that the correctional officers were present during periods in which Phillips‘s health deteriorated and therefore must have known of the seriousness of her illness, and knowingly failed to take measures to help Phillips that in lawsuit hindsight they might have taken.
These allegations, although spread over a lengthy and detailed complaint, do not allege facts sufficient to defeat the correctional officers’ claims of qualified immunity.
Therefore I would REVERSE the denial of qualified immunity to all of the correctional officers and concur in the remainder of my brother‘s opinion.