Phillips v. Roane County, Tenn.

• Decision Date: 25 July 2008
• Docket Number: No. 07-5405.,No. 07-5407.,07-5405.,07-5407.
• Citation: 534 F.3d 531
• Parties: 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).
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

534 F.3d 531

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).

No. 07-5405.

No. 07-5407.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: March 18, 2008.

Decided and Filed: July 25, 2008.

ARGUED: Jeffrey R. Thompson, O'Neil, Parker & Williamson, Knoxville, Tennessee, Jon G. Roach, Watson, Roach, Batson, Rowell & Lauderback, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellants. Dan C. Stanley, Stanley & Kurtz, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Jeffrey R. Thompson, O'Neil, Parker & Williamson, Knoxville, Tennessee, Jon G. Roach, Watson, Roach, Batson, Rowell & Lauderback, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellants. Dan C. Stanley, Stanley & Kurtz, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellee.

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 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against various governmental officials, alleging that they were deliberately indifferent to Phillips's serious medical needs. At issue in this case is whether the district court properly denied qualified immunity to the officials. Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the Estate, we AFFIRM the denial of qualified immunity to the correctional officers of Roane County, Duranda Tipton, and Dr. Thomas Boduch, REVERSE the denial of qualified immunity to Ken Yager, David Haggard, Gloria Wright, and Howie Rose, and REMAND this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

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 of 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 continued to complain of the same symptoms — vomiting, nausea, chest pains, and constipation — the officers turned off the water in the holding cell so that she could not flush the toilet in order to verify her claims. At no point, however, did officials deem Phillips's condition sufficiently serious to require medical evaluation.

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 received 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 § 1983 action against Roane County; David Haggard, the Sheriff of Roane County; and Hall, the head correctional officer in Roane County, alleging that they were deliberately indifferent to Phillips's serious medical needs in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and raising several state-law claims. Over the course of the next few months, the Estate filed amendments to its complaint, adding as defendants Ken Yager, the Roane County Executive, the correctional officers in Roane County, the Ambulance Service of Roane County ("ASRC"), employees of the ASRC, and Dr. Boduch.

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 condition. 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 whether certain alleged facts reflect a violation of clearly established law." Hoover v. Radabaugh, 307 F.3d 460, 465 (6th Cir. 2002). But this exception is a narrow one. A denial of a claim of qualified immunity is immediately appealable only if the appeal is premised not on a factual dispute, but rather on "neat abstract issues of law." Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 317, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995) (citation omitted). Accordingly, a defendant must essentially "concede the most favorable view of the facts to the plaintiff for purposes of the...