Chambers v. Ingram

• Decision Date: 21 September 1988
• Docket Number: Nos. 87-1555,87-1606 and 87-1873,s. 87-1555
• Citation: 858 F.2d 351
• Parties: Michael CHAMBERS, Plaintiff-Appellee-Cross-Appellant, v. Victoria INGRAM, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 351

858 F.2d 351

12 Fed.R.Serv.3d 133

Michael CHAMBERS, Plaintiff-Appellee-Cross-Appellant, v. Victoria INGRAM, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee.

Nos. 87-1555, 87-1606 and 87-1873.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Feb. 18, 1988.

Decided Sept. 21, 1988.

William D. Frazier, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellee-cross-appellant.

Joel T. Pelz, Jenner & Block, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellant-cross-appellee.

Before WOOD Jr., CUDAHY, and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff, Michael Chambers, was an inmate at Joliet Correctional Center (Joliet) from March 1983 until May 1984. During that time, Mr. Chambers was placed in the psychiatric unit and allegedly forced to ingest, against his will, Haldol--a psychotropic drug. He brought this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 against Dr. Victoria Ingram, the supervising psychologist at Joliet, as well as several other state officials. His suit also alleged a pendent state law claim for medical malpractice. Dr. Ingram appeals from the jury verdict against her on the medical malpractice claim. She also appeals from the district court's order overruling objections to Mr. Chambers' bill of costs. Mr. Chambers cross-appeals from the district court's grant of a directed verdict on his section 1983 claim. We affirm the judgment of the district court on the merits and remand for further consideration of the matter of costs.

I Background

A. Facts

The testimony at trial, as well as information contained in Mr. Chambers' medical records, revealed the following facts. In November 1983, while an inmate at Joliet, Mr. Chambers was threatened by several gang members. Afraid for his life, he requested that he be moved into protective custody. However, because there were no cells available in the protective custody unit at that time, he instead was placed temporarily in an open cell at the end of the segregation unit. Still fearful that the gang members would harm him, Mr. Chambers took the advice of a fellow inmate that he should pretend to be crazy so that he would be transferred to the psychiatric unit. Accordingly, he scratched his wrist with a plastic kitchen knife and asked a guard whether he would contract gangrene if he poured ink into the wound, and, if so, whether the gangrene would kill him.

Mr. Chambers was brought to the psychiatric unit on November 30, 1983 by a correctional officer. The officer said that Mr. Chambers had tried to commit suicide by hanging himself with a noose. ¹ Upon arrival, he was interviewed by the defendant Dr. Ingram. Dr. Ingram was the supervising psychologist in charge of Joliet's psychiatric unit. As a psychologist, she cannot prescribe drugs. Dr. Ingram testified that Mr. Chambers did not appear to be violent at this first meeting. She also testified that Mr. Chambers told her that he was afraid of the gangs. Dr. Ingram recorded her observations in Mr. Chambers' medical records. She noted that he appeared "very agitated" and "very anxious," and was "rocking back and forth in his chair." Additionally, she diagnosed Mr. Chambers as suffering from an "acute anxious state," and concluded that he was "depressed and a danger to himself." As a result of this initial examination, Dr. Ingram placed Mr. Chambers on suicide watch.

After examining Mr. Chambers, Dr. Ingram talked briefly over the telephone with Dr. Syed Ali. Dr. Ali is a psychiatrist who contracted with the Illinois Department of Corrections to provide his services at Joliet for approximately twenty hours per week. Dr. Ingram informed Dr. Ali of Mr. Chambers' condition, whereupon Dr. Ali prescribed Sinequan and Atarax. Sinequan is a drug primarily used for severe depression, and Atarax is a mild tranquilizer used to reduce anxiety. Dr. Ali had not seen Mr. Chambers at the time he prescribed these drugs.

On December 1, 1983, Dr. Ingram again met with Mr. Chambers. The medical records for this day reflect Dr. Ingram's observations that Mr. Chambers did not exhibit any "suicidal ideations" or "paranoid ideations." She believed that Mr. Chambers' condition had improved and noted Mr. Chambers' statement that he did not want to hurt himself. Dr. Ingram did not talk to Dr. Ali about Mr. Chambers' condition on this day.

The first personal contact Dr. Ali had with Mr. Chambers was on December 2, 1983, at which time Dr. Ali conducted a fifteen-minute examination. Two days then went by during which Mr. Chambers did not see either Dr. Ali or Dr. Ingram. Dr. Ingram next met with Mr. Chambers on December 5, 1983, at which time she observed that Mr. Chambers was "less anxious" but was "thinking of harming himself if he was off the unit." Dr. Ingram followed up this meeting with a phone call to Dr. Ali. After discussing Mr. Chambers' condition with Dr. Ingram, Dr. Ali prescribed two additional drugs for Mr. Chambers, Haldol and Artane. Haldol is a psychotropic drug primarily used to treat individuals who are schizophrenic or psychotic on a long-term basis. It has a number of well-known serious side effects, including seizures. Artane is a drug that is used to alleviate some of Haldol's minor side effects, but does not control the more serious ones such as seizures. Dr. Ali testified that he relied on information provided by Dr. Ingram in prescribing this medication and that the purpose of the medication was to prevent Mr. Chambers from committing suicide.

The Haldol was administered to Mr. Chambers by a nurse. Mr. Chambers asked the nurse what he was being given. Upon being informed that it was Haldol, Mr. Chambers refused to take the medication. He testified that his reason for refusing the medication was that he had heard from other inmates that Haldol can cause seizures. The nurse informed Mr. Chambers that if he persisted in his refusal, she would call the security guards to hold him down so that the medication could be injected intramuscularly. Mr. Chambers testified that he finally agreed to take the Haldol because he had seen other inmates being forcibly injected and he believed the nurse would carry out her threat to do the same with him.

Dr. Ali conducted a second fifteen-minute session with Mr. Chambers on December 6, 1983. Dr. Ingram met with Mr. Chambers on the next day. She concluded at this time that Mr. Chambers was doing much better and could be released from the psychiatric unit in the near future. However, she did not immediately notify Dr. Ali of her observations. On December 8, 1983, Mr. Chambers suffered two seizures--one in the morning and one in the afternoon. On December 9, 1983, he was taken to the hospital where tests confirmed that he had suffered two grand mal seizures. Mr. Chambers was discharged from the psychiatric unit on December 10, 1983. He alleges that he has since experienced several additional seizures, severe headaches, blackouts, and dizzy spells.

B. Procedural History

In his third amended complaint, Mr. Chambers named six individuals as defendants, including Dr. Ingram, Dr. Ali, and various state officials. ² Only Dr. Ingram and Dr. Ali were named in the pendent state malpractice suit. Dr. Ali was dismissed as a defendant before trial pursuant to a settlement agreement. The trial began on March 9, 1987. At the close of Mr. Chambers' case-in-chief, the district court granted the defendants' motion for a directed verdict on the civil rights claim. ³ However, the court denied Dr. Ingram's motion for a directed verdict on the medical malpractice claim. At the close of the evidence, Dr. Ingram renewed her motion for a directed verdict, which the court also denied.

Following an eight-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Mr. Chambers and against Dr. Ingram on the medical malpractice claim and assessed damages at $17,000. Dr. Ingram filed a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, for a new trial. This motion was denied by the district court in an order dated March 30, 1987. On April 17, 1987, the district court granted the plaintiff's bill of costs in the amount of $4,785.54. This amount included $3,000 in fees for the plaintiff's expert witness, Dr. Schwarz. Dr. Ingram filed a motion to reconsider the entry of the plaintiff's bill of costs. The district court denied this motion on April 30, 1987.

C. Opinion of the District Court

The district court's ruling on Dr. Ingram's motion for a directed verdict with respect to Mr. Chambers' medical malpractice claim was rendered orally from the bench. In denying Dr. Ingram's motion, the court also narrowed the range of issues that it would allow to remain in the case to a single theory of medical malpractice. That theory, according to the court, was that

there was an inadequate, improper--or improper information given by Dr. Ingram to Dr. Ali, and that information given by Dr. Ingram to Dr. Ali deviated from the standard of care that is required by the law.

Based in part on this inaccurate or improper information, the jury could find that Dr. Ali gave the plaintiff Haldol when it was not medically indicated, and that this was the cause of the plaintiff's seizures.

Clearly, in my view the record shows that Dr. Ali himself had committed the malpractice; that's not before me. That portion of the case has been settled.

Dr. Ingram's liability for medical malpractice is much more tenuous and it's limited only to the circumstance that I have suggested already, and I will direct out any other theory of malpractice which I believe the evidence does not show and support.

Tr. at 337-38 (emphasis supplied).

The district court's decision to grant a directed verdict on the section 1983 claim also was given orally from the bench. The court stated that there was no evidence of wilful neglect or deliberate indifference and, therefore, that the malpractice case against Dr. Ingram did not rise to a civil rights claim under either the eighth amendment or the fourteenth amendment. The court stated...