Brown v. Ghosh
| Decision Date | 29 March 2017 |
| Docket Number | No. 13 C 2775,13 C 2775 |
| Parties | TERRY JEROME BROWN, Plaintiff, v. DR. PARTHASARATHI GHOSH, DR. IMHOTEP CARTER, DR. SALEH OBAISI, C/O SHAWNNEL GRUBBS, C/O CHRISTOPHER MEDIN, MARCUS HARDY, WARDEN RANDY PFISTER, ROYCE BROWN REED, MADONA MAIKAITIS, NURSE TIFFANY UTKE, NURSE CYNTHIA GARCIA, NURSE ALETHA HARPER and NURSE WENDY DYBAS, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois |
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff Terry Brown is incarcerated at Stateville Correctional Center. In this lawsuit, Brown alleges that employees of the Illinois Department of Corrections ("IDOC") and IDOC's medical services provider, Wexford Health Sources, Inc. ("Wexford"), acted with deliberate indifference toward his medical conditions and retaliated against him for filing suit, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Brown suffers from a serious spinal condition called spinal stenosis. He alleges that Defendants displayed deliberate indifference to this condition by (a) wrongfully confiscating his neck brace, losing it, and failing to provide a new one for six months; (b) failing to arrange for him to attend a necessary follow-up appointment for eight months after a difficult surgery; and (c) ignoring treatment instructions from his surgeon. Brown also suffers from glaucoma, and claims that certain prison and medical staff forced him to keep necessary medication in his cell, thereby rendering it subject to confiscation. Finally, he claims that the prison's doctor refused to renew the permit for his crutch in retaliation for filing this suit.
Brown sued numerous IDOC staff and Wexford staff, and some have been dismissed from the suit. The remaining defendants, Shawnel2 Grubbs, Royce Brown-Reed, and Marcus Hardy (the "IDOC Defendants"), and Nurses Madonna Maikaitis, Wendy Dybas, Aletha Harper, Tiffany Utke, and Cynthia Garcia, along with Doctors Imhotep Carter and Saleh Obaisi (the "Wexford Defendants") have moved for summary judgment.
Brown has been an inmate at the Stateville Correctional Center since October 1, 2009. (Pl.'s Additional Statement of Facts in Resp. to IDOC Statement of Facts [hereinafter "Pl.'s SOF to IDOC] [168-1], at ¶ 47.) He claims that prison staff have been deliberately indifferent to his medical conditions in a variety of ways during his imprisonment at Stateville, as described below. The court views the record in the light most favorable to the party opposing a motion for summary judgment, here, Brown. Dawson v. Brown, 803 F.3d 829, 832 (7th Cir. 2015).
Brown has suffered from spinal stenosis, a degenerative joint disease, since prior to arriving at Stateville in October 2009. (Pl.'s SOF to IDOC ¶¶ 51, 61.) Brown utilized a neck brace and cane for his condition upon entering the facility (id. at ¶ 47), and continued to wear the brace whenever he left his cell (except to shower) (id. at ¶¶ 49), until it was taken from him in late October 2011.
Stateville regulations require inmates to possess a permit for any medical equipment they have. (IDOC Defs.' Local Rule 56.1 Filing [hereinafter IDOC SOF] [155], at ¶ 26.) If an inmate possesses a piece of medical equipment without a valid medical permit, it is considered contraband and subject to confiscation. (Id.) Brown was issued a medical permit for his neckbrace when he entered the facility. (Pl.'s SOF to IDOC ¶ 48.) Dr. Parthasarathi Ghosh, the medical director at Stateville from 2003 to March 2011 (Dep. of Dr. Parthasarathi Ghosh, Ex. C to Wexford Defs.' Local Rule 56.1(3) Statement of Facts [hereinafter "Ghosh Dep."] [150-3], at 13:19-14:2), renewed the permit on in July 2010 (Pl.'s SOF to IDOC ¶ 52), and November 2010, after which it was set to expire on June 30, 2011. (Id. at ¶ 53.)
There is a dispute about the status of Brown's permit after these dates. Brown asserts that a doctor at Stateville ordered the permit renewed for another six months after a medical appointment on June 17, 2011 (Pl.'s Resp. to IDOC SOF ¶ 36(a)), and there are medical notes that either reflect a staff member reviewing the permits or ordering them renewed. (Ex. 10 to Pl.'s Resp. to IDOC SOF [168-11]).3 The identity of the person who wrote the notes is uncertain, made more complicated by the fact that Dr. Ghosh left his position as medical director in March 2011 (Ghosh Dep 13:23-24), and Dr. Imhotep Carter, the medical director that succeeded him, did not assume the job until July 25, 2011. (Wexford Defs.' Local Rule 56.1(3) Statement of Facts [hereinafter Wexford SOF] [150], at ¶ 14.) Regardless, Brown apparently did not receive the permit, as he informed a nurse at a medical appointment on August 28, 2011 that he still needed it. (Pl.'s Resp. to IDOC SOF ¶ 36(c); IDOC, Offender Outpatient Progress Notes (Aug. 10, 2011), Ex. 11 to Pl.'s Resp. to IDOC SOF [168-12] (noting "I need my permits renewed").) He still had not received the renewed permit on October 27, 2011 when he filed a grievance about the matter. (Pl.'s Resp. to IDOC SOF ¶ 36(b); Offender's Grievance #4070 (Oct. 27, 2011), Ex. 6 to Pl.'s Resp. to IDOC SOF [168-7].)
IDOC asserts that Brown was well aware that his permit had expired, was not renewed, and was not valid after June 30, 2011, citing portions of Brown's deposition in which he admits that he "did not have an up-to-date permit," and admits that the permit he possessed earlier hadexpired. (Dep. of Terry Brown, Ex. B to Wexford SOF [hereinafter Pl.'s Dep.] [150-2], at 84:6-12; 218:8-21.) Brown contends that although he had not yet received a physical copy of the renewed permit, it was "renewed," in the sense that the medical staff had ordered the permit renewed on June 17. (Pl.'s Resp. to IDOC SOF ¶ 36.)
Either way, it is undisputed that Brown was wearing his neck brace on October 28, 2011 without possessing a valid, physical permit for it. (IDOC SOF ¶¶ 31-34.) Correctional Officer Shawnel Grubbs pulled Brown out of a line of prisoners on the way to the cafeteria for a random shakedown. (Id. at ¶ 31.) Grubbs recalls that he observed Brown without a permit. (Dep. of Shawnel Grubbs, Ex. F. to IDOC SOF [hereinafter "Grubbs Dep.] [155-5], at 47:13.) From his testimony, it appears that Grubbs either confiscated the neck brace on the spot (id. at 49:12-14 ()), or took Brown to segregation where the guards in the segregation unit seized the brace. (Id. at 53:18-19 ( ).) Brown asserts that Grubbs could have done any number of things instead of taking his neck brace, or causing it to be taken in segregation, such as following up with the healthcare unit to determine the validity of the permit, but Grubbs did not. (Pl.'s SOF to IDOC ¶ 54.) Grubbs agreed that he could have "jump[ed] through the hoops to do [Brown] a favor of keeping the brace." (Grubbs Dep. 52:20-24.) Presumably, Grubbs was referring to calling the healthcare unit to determine whether Brown had a valid permit which, according to Grubbs, could take between ten minutes and two hours. (Id. at 38:18-39:2.) Grubbs also testified that most of the time he gave inmates a "pass" if they did not have a valid medical permit on them, provided their "demeanor and attitude [were] correct" (id. at 39:14-17), or he would follow up at the inmate's cell to determine whether he had a valid medical permit. (Id. at 39:22-40:6.)
It is undisputed that Brown was deprived of his neck brace for months. The neck brace taken from him during the October 28, 2011 incident was never returned (Pl.'s SOF to IDOC¶ 56), and he did not get a new brace until May 30, 2012. (Id. at ¶ 63.) The Defendants contend that the neck brace was not, in fact, medically necessary. (IDOC Mem. in Support of Mot. for Summ. J [hereinafter IDOC Br.] [154], at 6 (); Wexford Defs.' Mem. in Supp. of Summ. J. [hereinafter Wexford Br.] [149], at 6 ().)
In his briefs, Brown contends that the brace was in fact "vital and necessary" (Pl.'s Opp'n to IDOC Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. [hereinafter Pl.'s Br. Opp. to IDOC] [168], at 9; Pl.'s Opp'n to Wexford Defs.' Mot. for Summ. J. [hereinafter Pl.'s Br. Opp. to Wexford] [169], at 11), and that as a result of losing the brace "[h]e was in constant pain for months," and "[h]e was worried about whether a fall or even a jostle could cause catastrophic and permanent damage to his neck." (Pl.'s Br. Opp. to IDOC 12; see also Pl.'s Br. Opp. to Wexford 11.) Brown has maintained all along that the purpose of the brace was to stabilize his neck to prevent unnecessary painful movement and to protect him in the event of a fall or other external injury. In one grievance, filed October 27, 2011, he stated that he was in pain and that he was at risk of internal injuries because he did not have the brace. (See Offender's Grievance #4070.) In his deposition, he testified that he currently wears the neck brace when he is in pain so that his neck will not move if he falls. (Pl.'s Dep. 249:17-23.) He further states that having the brace confiscated "would cause me a pain and suffering with my spine." (Id. at 264:17-18.) In a grievance filed before he got the brace back on May 2, 2012 (Offender's Grievance #K-76895 (May 2, 2012), Ex. E to 3d Am. Compl. [112-5]), Brown complains that "I am [in] much pain and the neck brace will [illegible] me [] from Moving my Neck so much which go to my Spine that causes [illegible] lot pain . . . ." (Id.) Finally, Brown reported to medical staff at the University of Illinois at Chicago ("UIC") hospital, when the prison...
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