Dominguez v. Correctional Medical Services
| Decision Date | 17 February 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 08-1212.,08-1212. |
| Citation | 555 F.3d 543 |
| Parties | Luis DOMINGUEZ, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CORRECTIONAL MEDICAL SERVICES, et al., Defendants, Julie Fletcher, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Michigan, for Appellant. Shawn C. Cabot, Christopher Trainor & Associates, White Lake, Michigan, for Appellee.
ON BRIEF:
John L. Thurber, Office of the Michigan Attorney General, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellant. Shawn C. Cabot, Christopher J. Trainor, Christopher Trainor & Associates, White Lake, Michigan, for Appellee.
Before: MERRITT, MOORE, and COLE, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff-Appellee Luis Dominguez filed his claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that on July 7, 2002, while housed at a Michigan Department of Corrections ("MDOC") facility, he was subjected to excessive force and inadequate medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment, as well as gross negligence under Michigan state law. The issue before this Court is whether the district court properly denied Defendant-Appellant Julie Fletcher's motion for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.
This case arises from medical treatment Dominguez received while an inmate at the Carson City Correctional Facility, located in Carson City, Michigan. On July 7, 2002, Dominguez and other inmates attended an outdoor weight-training session. It was a hot day with temperatures reaching at least ninety degrees. Toward the end of the one-and-one-half hour session, Dominguez complained to a fellow inmate, Pablo Rodriguez, that he felt dizzy and needed to catch his breath. Rodriguez tried to help steady Dominguez. Nonetheless, Dominguez fell to the floor, complaining that he could not breathe. Rodriguez brought water from a nearby faucet and poured it over Dominguez's head to try to cool him down. After about twenty minutes, Dominguez started to feel better and was able to walk back to his housing unit.
Arriving back at the housing unit, Dominguez proceeded to a guard office where corrections officer Crystal Galvan-Casas was working. Dominguez informed Galvan-Casas that he had just come from his weight-training session and did not feel well. She told him to take a shower and cool off. Dominguez then went to the bathroom to shower but returned a short time later. Galvan-Casas did not know whether Dominguez had actually been able to take a shower. Dominguez stated he was afraid he would fall down and Galvan-Casas noticed he was "wobbly." Based on her concern arising from Dominguez's condition, at around 3:30 p.m., Galvan-Casas telephoned nurse Julie Fletcher.
During the call, Fletcher took notes of her conversation with Galvan-Casas. (See Progress Notes, Joint Appendix ("JA") 75.) The notes indicate that Galvan-Casas told Fletcher that Dominguez appeared to be suffering from heat exhaustion. (See id.) Fletcher did not provide Galvan-Casas with any instructions for how to care for Dominguez, but she said she would check on Dominguez when she passed out medication at around 7:00 p.m. Galvan-Casas then handed the phone to Dominguez, and Fletcher instructed him to drink fluids, lie down, and rest. Dominguez then returned to his "cube" in the housing unit.
During her rounds, at about 4:00 p.m., Galvan-Casas checked in on Dominguez to ask him how he was doing. He told her that his head hurt. Dominguez's cube-mate stated that he believed that Dominguez was getting worse. Galvan-Casas again called Fletcher, informing her that Dominguez's condition had deteriorated and that he was throwing up all the water he was drinking. Fletcher then agreed to see Dominguez in the medical unit. Galvan-Casas sent for a wheelchair and had Dominguez wheeled over to the medical unit. Another guard, Craig Humphreys, who accompanied Dominguez to the medical unit, observed him sweating profusely and noticed vomit on his clothing.
After arriving at the medical unit, Dominguez met with Fletcher and told her he had become light-headed and dizzy while exercising outside. Dominguez explained that he was experiencing numbness in his left arm and had difficulty catching his breath. Fletcher checked his blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and oxygen saturation, listened to his heart, and checked his grip strength. Dominguez alleges, and Fletcher's notes do not refute the assertion, that she did not attempt to measure Dominguez's core temperature. At some point during the examination, Dominguez vomited again—this time a clear substance. Fletcher claims she contacted Physician's Assistant Mark Boomershine of MDOC's Duane Waters Hospital in Jackson, Michigan. Boomershine and Fletcher allegedly discussed Dominguez's condition. Fletcher then advised Dominguez to return to his housing unit to rest, drink water, avoid sports and weight-lifting, and take aspirin. According to Fletcher, Dominguez walked out of the medical unit without assistance. Fletcher also completed a Suspected Heat Related Illness Report Form.
Dominguez then returned to his cube. The parties dispute whether Fletcher knew or should have known that Dominguez's cube was excessively hot. However, there is no indication in the record that Fletcher inquired into the ambient temperature of the housing units. Moreover, there is no evidence that Fletcher ordered that Dominguez be placed in one of the two air-conditioned holding cells in the medical unit, both of which were empty at the time.
At around 6:30 p.m., Galvan-Casas again went to Dominguez's cube to check on his condition. She found him unconscious on the floor and was unable to wake him. Another guard arrived and continued attempts to revive Dominguez while Galvan-Casas went to call for medical assistance. Galvan-Casas states that she called "health care" and the "control center" to inform them that Dominguez had lost consciousness and needed medical attention. (Deposition of Galvan-Casas 64, JA 181.) Fletcher's notes indicate that she received a call from an officer in Dominguez's housing unit at about 6:35 p.m. Fletcher's notes do not state whether she had been informed that Dominguez had been unconscious; however, she concedes this fact on appeal. Her notes do indicate that she was told that Dominguez had been lying down since his earlier visit to the medical unit, was now complaining of dizziness, and had been unable to consume any water.
Fletcher instructed the guard to give Dominguez water. However, Fletcher's notes state that she received a second call at 6:40 p.m. informing her that Dominguez, who apparently had been revived, vomited when he tried to drink water. Based on the news from this second call, Fletcher told the guard that she would see Dominguez at the medical unit.
Another inmate brought Dominguez by wheelchair to see Fletcher at 6:55 p.m. Fletcher's notes indicate that she was informed that Dominguez could not hold down water, felt dizzy, and his entire side felt "prickly." (Progress Notes, JA 76) Fletcher took Dominguez's vital signs and contacted Dr. Robert Dorr, D.O., an osteopathic physician who was on duty at Duane Waters Hospital, at about 7:10 p.m. Fletcher and Dorr discussed Dominguez's condition, and agreed that Dominguez appeared to be suffering from dehydration. Dorr instructed Fletcher to monitor Dominguez in an air-conditioned room, to encourage him to drink water, and to apply ice to his armpits and groin. Dominguez was given water, and ice bags were applied to his body. Fletcher then left Dominguez with an officer while she resumed her duty of passing out medication.
Around 7:25 p.m., Dominguez's condition rapidly worsened. Dominguez's speech became slurred, he slumped in his wheelchair, and he began shaking uncontrollably.1 Shortly thereafter, Dominguez became completely non-responsive. The record is unclear as to whether Fletcher came back to check on Dominguez or whether the guard watching Dominguez called for her; however, on her return, Fletcher attempted to insert an oral airway, but was unable to do so because Dominguez's mouth was clenched shut.
At some point, emergency medical services ("EMS") was contacted. EMS arrived on the scene at about 7:41 p.m. and assumed Dominguez's medical care. EMS then transferred Dominguez to Carson City Hospital. Fletcher had no further role in Dominguez's care.
At Carson City Hospital, doctors were unable to diagnose Dominguez's condition. He was transported by helicopter for treatment at Foote Hospital in Jackson, Michigan.
As a result of the events on July 7, 2002, Dominguez remains in a "`locked-in state' as a quadriplegic with limited communication but complete consciousness." (Final Br. of Plaintiff-Appellee Dominguez 4.) The Parole Board released Dominguez on medical parole in 2002. He was ultimately discharged in 2004.
Dominguez sued eleven MDOC employees, Correctional Medical Services ("CMS"), and two of CMS's employees claiming that they violated his Eighth Amendment rights. Fletcher moved for summary judgment based, in part, on qualified immunity. On September 25, 2007, the magistrate judge issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that Fletcher's summary judgment motion be denied.
On February 14, 2008, the district court accepted in part and rejected in part the Report and Recommendation. In its opinion, the court denied Fletcher's motion for summary judgment as to qualified immunity on Dominguez's deliberate indifference claim and also determined that Dominguez's claim for gross negligence under Michigan law should proceed to trial. Fletcher's timely notice of appeal followed.
We first consider whether this Court has jurisdiction. "Title 28 U.S.C. § 1291 limits appellate jurisdiction to `final decisions of the...
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