Farrow v. West, No. 01-13846.
| Decision Date | 07 February 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-13846. |
| Citation | 320 F.3d 1235 |
| Parties | Dean Effarage FARROW, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Dr. WEST, (Dentist), Nurse Shipman, Dr. Charles C. King, Regional Director of Correctional Medical Services, Incorporated, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
Scott B. Smith (Court-Appointed), Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, LLP, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Joseph Edward Parish, Jr., McInnish, Bright & Long, Montgomery, AL, for Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
Before CARNES and HULL, Circuit Judges, and HANCOCK*, District Judge.
Plaintiff Dean E. Farrow, a state prisoner, appeals the grant of summary judgment in his § 1983 action against defendants Dr. Marvin West, Nurse Linda Shipman, and Dr. Charles King. Farrow asserts that the defendants' eighteen-month delay in medical treatment constituted deliberate indifference to his serious medical need and violated his constitutional rights under the Eighth Amendment. He also contends that defendant Nurse Shipman ordered her staff not to treat him in retaliation for his written complaints about the inadequacy of Dr. West's medical care.
After review and oral argument, we affirm the grant of summary judgment on all claims against Nurse Shipman and Dr. King.1 We reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of Dr. West on Farrow's Eighth Amendment claim. In all other respects, we affirm the grant of summary judgment as to Dr. West.
In the latter part of 1995, Farrow was an inmate in the Alabama prison system. At that time, defendant Dr. West extracted some of Farrow's teeth. Farrow then was released from prison in the first part of 1996. Before Farrow re-entered prison in Alabama on June 9, 1999, Farrow sought to obtain dentures from a private dentist. However, he was incarcerated before being able to do so.
Farrow had only two lower teeth when he re-entered the Alabama prison system on June 9, 1999. This dental condition made it painful for Farrow to consume hard foods and forced him to improvise a "soft diet," consisting of foods that he could ingest by using only his tongue and the upper part of his mouth. Farrow also had difficulties closing his mouth without having his two lower teeth slice into his upper gums, which caused his gums to bleed. He often experienced severe soreness and swelling in his gums, and his condition also led to weight loss.2
In prison, Farrow repeatedly requested dental care and dentures. Shortly after entering prison, Farrow was given a physical and a dental examination on June 12, 1999. During his dental examination, he asked the dentist for dentures, but was informed he would have to wait until after he was transferred to another correctional facility. Farrow was then sent to Bullock Correctional Facility where he made an appointment to see a dentist. Before the date of the appointment, Farrow was transferred on July 9, 1999 to Easterling Correctional Facility where defendant Dr. West was a dentist.3
On July 29, 1999, Farrow was placed on the denture list at Easterling. The construction process for his dentures began when Farrow met with Dr. West on October 19, 1999. During his visit with Dr. West, Farrow explained his "problem" as follows: (a) "I was having trouble eating,... it was extremely painful for me to try to eat hard foods," and "I was eating a self made `soft diet'" and (b) "[t]he two (2) teeth I have prevent the closing of my mouth by slicing into my upper gum" and "[f]or a very long time this condition caused the bleeding of my gums, soreness, and swelling." Additionally, Farrow's medical records indicate that Farrow told Dr. West that he lost approximately twenty pounds over the prior three months. This apparently was the three months from when Farrow was transferred to Easterling on July 9 until his October 19, 1999 visit with Dr. West.
During the October visit, Dr. West prescribed for Farrow a complete denture for his upper mouth and a removable partial denture — to fit over Farrow's two remaining teeth — for his lower mouth.4 Dr. West also began the process for constructing the dentures by taking an impression of Farrow's mouth. According to Dr. West, the four steps in that process are: (1) the impression, (2) wax bite, (3) wax try-in, and (4) delivery of dentures.
Troubles arose, however, on November 4, 1999, during Farrow's next appointment with Dr. West. Dr. West completed the second step by taking a wax bite of Farrow's mouth. At oral argument, defendants' counsel acknowledged that once a wax bite is taken, the wax try-in "should be done soon thereafter."
During this November appointment, Farrow told Dr. West that he was very depressed, in pain, and tired of waiting for his false teeth. Farrow said that he had lost his appetite and was losing weight because of his dental problem. He complained to Dr. West that he did not know of any dentist in the "free world" who took longer than thirty days to provide dentures. This statement angered Dr. West, who asked Farrow why he did not obtain dentures while not imprisoned.
Also during Farrow's November visit, Dr. West did observe that Farrow was losing too much weight and recommended that Farrow have another physical examination. However, a nurse informed Farrow that it would take three weeks to a month to get a physical, so Farrow told Dr. West that he just needed false teeth and not another physical examination. According to Farrow, Dr. West responded that he did not care what Farrow needed and was "sick of being bother[ed] with [him]." Dr. West told Farrow to sign a waiver form acknowledging his refusal of the physical examination and then asked the nurse to "get me another inmate in here!"5 After signing the waiver, Farrow asked Dr. West how long he would have to wait for his dentures. Dr. West responded by telling the security guard to expel Farrow from the infirmary.
For several months after the November 1999 visit, Dr. West refused to meet with Farrow. It was July 2000 before Farrow saw Dr. West again. During that nine-month period from November 1999 to July 2000, Farrow did not receive any dental care.
In July 2000, Farrow had another physical examination. During his examination, Farrow complained about his dental condition and again requested dental services. He was referred to and had an appointment with Dr. West on July 12, 2000. At that appointment, Dr. West told Farrow that "he'd sent the cast off" and would send for Farrow when his dentures arrived. The medical records indicate that Farrow was scheduled to return, at an unspecified time, for a wax try-in. After this July 2000 visit, Farrow repeatedly asked Dr. West and his assistant about his dentures. They told him that his dentures were not ready and that they would send for him when the dentures arrived.
In October 2000, Farrow's gums bled again after he attempted to eat cornbread. On two occasions that October, Farrow submitted written complaints requesting dental care and seeking treatment for other ailments. On October 15, Farrow stated that he needed "to see the dentist" and needed "medicine for athlete['s] foot." Two days later, on October 17, Farrow wrote that he was "absolutely in need of dentures" and complained that "this system of treatment is inadequate and in violation of the Alabama Constitution ... and the 14th Amendment and 8th Amendment of the United States Constitution." The nurses on sick call told him that they were not responsible for dental work and did not treat him.6 Farrow then used a salt and warm water remedy for his gums, which healed for a duration.
On October 31, 2000, nearly one year after the wax bite was taken, Farrow returned to Dr. West for a wax try-in, the third step. During that appointment, Dr. West told Farrow to expect a call from him soon about his dentures.
In November 2000, Farrow's upper gums bled again because his two teeth cut into them each time he sneezed. Farrow sought treatment for his mouth, as well as for a cold and his athlete's foot. He filled out a third written complaint on November 22, stating that he would like to see a dentist and needed treatment for his sinuses and athlete's foot. The nurse on duty informed him that she could not give him any medicine for his cold or his athlete's foot because defendant Nurse Shipman, a supervisor of the nursing staff at the Easterling Correctional Facility, had told her not to do so. The nurse told Farrow that he would have to purchase medicine from the infirmary.7 Farrow asserts he was denied treatment, on Nurse Shipman's orders, because of his written complaints.8
As of December 2000, Farrow had not received his dentures. Therefore, on December 4, 2000, he pro se filed this § 1983 action against the defendants seeking, inter alia, injunctive relief from the federal court ordering the defendants to complete and deliver his dentures.9 On January 2, 2001, nearly fifteen months after Dr. West prescribed dentures as medically necessary for Farrow, but less than one month after he filed suit, Farrow's dentures were delivered.
Farrow's pro se complaint alleged that the defendants were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical need and that they, Nurse Shipman in particular, retaliated against him for submitting written complaints about the inadequacy of the dental care at Easterling Correctional Facility. The magistrate judge then ordered the defendants to review the subject matter of the complaint and file a written report containing the sworn statements of all persons connected with Farrow's § 1983 action.
Accordingly, the...
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