Brown v. Mitchell

Decision Date28 July 2004
Docket NumberNo. CIV.A. 3:03CV820.,CIV.A. 3:03CV820.
Citation327 F.Supp.2d 615
PartiesDelorise BROWN, Plaintiff, v. Michelle MITCHELL, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia

James B. Thorsen, Christopher C. Booberg, Craig J. Curwood, Thosen & Scher LLP, Richmond, VA, for Plaintiff.

John A. Gibney, Jr., Thompson & McMullan, Richmond, VA, for Mitchell.

Elizabeth S. Skilling, Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Glen Allen, VA, for Freund.

Phillip L. Hairston, William J. Hoppe, Office of the City Attorney, Richmond, VA, for the City.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PAYNE, District Judge.

At the time of his death Steven R. Stevenson ("Stevenson") was an inmate serving a sentence in the City Jail for the City of Richmond, Virginia (the "Jail") for failure to pay child support. The Plaintiff, Delorise Brown ("Brown"), Stevenson's mother, in her capacity as the administratrix of her son's estate, filed an action in the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond, Virginia against the City of Richmond, Virginia (the "City"), Richmond City Sheriff Michelle Mitchell ("Mitchell" or the "Sheriff"), Chief Physician of the Jail Dr. Jack Freund ("Dr. Freund"), and John Does 1-10, unidentified deputy guards employed at the Jail, alleging violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Virginia law.

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1441, the Defendants removed the action to federal court.1 The Court, therefore, has federal question jurisdiction, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331, over the claims brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and it has supplemental jurisdiction, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a), over the state law claims.

All of the Defendants, save John Does 1-10,2 have filed motions pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 seeking summary judgment respecting the claims pending against them. For the reasons stated below, these motions will be granted in part and denied in part.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Consistent with the constraints of Fed.R.Civ.P. 56, the facts recited here are based on deposition testimony, affidavits, documentary evidence in the record, and the parties' various statements of material facts, to the extent that such statements of facts are undisputed. Power v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan, 87 F.Supp.2d 545, 547 n. 2 (E.D.Va.2000). Where there is a dispute, the differing versions are identified. Of course, in considering the motions for summary judgment, Brown, as the nonmoving party, is entitled to have her version of all that is disputed accepted and to have the benefit of all favorable inferences. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).

I. The Circumstances of Stevenson's Incarceration and Death

Beginning on July 23, 2001, Stevenson was incarcerated in the Jail for failure to pay child support. As part of Stevenson's commitment to the Jail, the Jail staff completed a medical history and screening. At that time, Stevenson reported good health. He did, however, inform his jailors that he had suffered a gunshot wound in 1997, as a result of which Stevenson lost his spleen. Stevenson apparently informed the Jail staff that, because of his condition, he had been placed apart from the general population in previous incarcerations. On the occasion of this confinement, however, Jail staff assigned Stevenson to Tier G-3, a general population unit in the Jail.

By August 7, 2001, approximately two weeks after entering the Jail, Stevenson began to suffer from severe headaches. Stevenson complained of these headaches to his fellow inmates, the on-duty nurse, as well as to several deputy guards. On the afternoon of August 7, 2001, deputy guards allowed Stevenson to visit the Jail's medical clinic where medical personnel provided him with nonprescription cold medicine. Stevenson's condition, however, did not respond to this medication, and he continued to suffer from increasingly severe headaches.

By August 8, Stevenson had become too weak to carry his food tray in the mess hall. A fellow inmate, therefore, needed to assist Stevenson in obtaining and carrying his meal. Affidavit of Walker, at 4 ¶ 24. During the course of this meal, and within plain view of the deputies who were patrolling the mess hall, Stevenson vomited. Upon witnessing Stevenson's vomiting, the deputy guards thereafter excused him to return to his cell. Affidavit of Miles, at 6 ¶ 38. That evening, after returning to his cell, Stevenson continued to complain about severe pain in his head and stomach; he had also, by that time, begun to sweat heavily and constantly. Affidavit of Peete, at 5 ¶ 30.

By August 9, 2001, Stevenson was so sick that he stopped attending meals altogether. Affidavit of Walker, at 5 ¶ 31. In fact, Stevenson did not leave Tier G-3 at all that day. Instead, Stevenson remained in his bunk3 dressed only in his underwear, complaining of chills, inability to eat, and persistent heavy sweating. His fellow inmates, in an attempt to cool Stevenson down, repeatedly applied wet towels to Stevenson's head and body and attempted to provide him with liquids. Id. at 5 ¶ 32. The deputies patrolling Tier G-3 witnessed the inmates' provision of rudimentary medical assistance; nonetheless, these guards did nothing to assist Stevenson.

Stevenson's only outing from his cell on August 9 was when several inmates helped carry him to the canteen so that he could purchase several personal items. Affidavit of Walker, at 5 ¶ 36. The numerous deputies who were stationed on Tier G-3 and at the canteen witnessed this event, and thus were aware of Stevenson's inability to walk under his own power. These guards, however, did not in any way assist Stevenson and his fellow inmates.

Moreover, throughout the day on August 9, Stevenson's fellow inmates repeatedly informed deputies of Stevenson's increasingly deteriorating condition and requested that Stevenson receive medical attention. Affidavit of Walker, at 5 ¶ 38. All told, Stevenson's fellow inmates requested assistance from deputies approximately twenty times that day. Affidavit of Peete, at 6 ¶ 41. The deputies, however, ignored these requests. Id. at 6 ¶ 42. Moreover, notwithstanding that, during the "count"4 on August 9, Stevenson was so debilitated that his fellow inmates needed to carry him to the front of his cell, the deputies conducting the count did nothing to address Stevenson's condition. Affidavit of Miles, at 8 ¶ 55. In fact, the deputies conducting the count ignored Stevenson's personal pleas for medical assistance. Affidavit of Walker, at 6 ¶ 43. Thereafter, throughout the evening of August 9, Stevenson continued to suffer and to vomit on a fairly regular basis.

By the next day, August 10, 2001, Stevenson was more-or-less unresponsive to exterior stimuli, was sweating profusely, and — despite having missed meals for almost two days — was throwing up on a near-constant basis. Affidavit of Walker, at 6 ¶ 45. Stevenson was so nauseated that he was unable to eat the food and drink that his fellow inmates had procured from the canteen. Affidavit of Peete, at 6 ¶ 45. Because they recognized Stevenson's symptoms as serious, his fellow inmates repeatedly appealed to the deputy guards for assistance. For most of the day, however, these appeals went ignored. Affidavit of Walker, at 6 ¶ 50. The deputies patrolling the tier looked at Stevenson, heard the other inmates' pleas, and then left without taking any action in spite of the fact that Stevenson was obviously quite ill.5 Finally, however, that afternoon, after many pleas from Stevenson's fellow inmates, the guards allowed Stevenson to see a nurse who, after a brief evaluation, referred Stevenson for an examination by a doctor.

Upon referral from the nurse, the Chief Physician of the Jail, Dr. Freund, examined Stevenson. Dr. Freund gauged Stevenson's temperature at 101.2 degrees. Second Suppl. Decl. of Freund, at 2 ¶ 13.6 Dr. Freund says that Stevenson had a moderately dry tongue, greater than normal bowel sounds, and enlarged nodes in the left axillar region.7 In the course of his examination of the demonstrably ill, weak patient, Dr. Freund checked Stevenson's abdomen, throat, lungs, and neck in an effort to determine whether Stevenson had localizing signs of bacterial infection; in particular, Dr. Freund performed a nuchal rigidity test. These examinations, according to Dr. Freund, returned negative indications for bacterial infection. It is undisputed, however, that Dr. Freund did not engage in any further testing aimed at ascertaining the existence of a bacterial infection.

Upon completion of the examination, Dr. Freund, according to his sworn testimony, diagnosed Stevenson's condition as a viral infection with dehydration. Dr. Freund thereafter prescribed a fever reducer and a medicine to quell Stevenson's nausea.8 Dr. Freund also ordered that Jail staff monitor Stevenson's temperature daily,9 place Stevenson on a liquid diet, and administer the prescribed nausea medication. Second Suppl. Decl. of Freund, at 3 ¶ 18. He further ordered Jail personnel to return Stevenson to the clinic on August 14. He then ordered Stevenson to return to the general population unit of the Jail.

Thus, in accord with Dr. Freund's orders, Stevenson returned to the Jail on the evening of August 10. Throughout that night, his fellow inmates continued to apply damp cloths to Stevenson's head and body and to provide him with liquids. Affidavit of Miles, at 9 ¶ 69. They also assisted Stevenson with vomiting and in removing his vomit from the cell. Throughout these endeavors, the inmates asked repeatedly for assistance from the deputy guards.

At some point that night, Stevenson began to throw up a green, mucus-like substance. Thereafter, Stevenson's fellow inmates were unable to elicit a response from him. Affidavit of Peete, at 8 ¶ 55. The inmates, having had limited success in gaining the guards' attention through normal channels, began to make loud noises, banging on the...

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