Jorden v. Farrier, 85-1764
| Decision Date | 17 April 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-1764,85-1764 |
| Parties | Walter JORDEN, Appellant, v. Harold FARRIER, Paul Loeffelholz and Cripus Nix, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Michael D. Green and Peter A. Peak, Iowa City, Iowa, for appellant.
Mark Hunacek, Asst. Atty. Gen., Des Moines, Iowa, for appellees.
Before HEANEY and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges, and HANSON *, Senior District Judge.
Jorden brings this 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 action against Iowa correctional officials for failing to provide him with medication to treat his severe muscle contraction headaches. The district court, treating defendant's motion to dismiss as a motion for summary judgment, granted the motion and ordered judgment entered for defendants. We reverse.
Jorden was shot in the head in 1976. The bullet has not been removed. Since that time he has received treatment from a number of doctors for severe muscle contraction headaches. In June of 1981, while Jorden was incarcerated at the Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP), he was referred by prison authorities to Dr. E. Shivapour of the Department of Neurology, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. After examining Jorden, Dr. Shivapour prescribed fiorinal for his muscle contraction headaches and phenobarbitol for his seizure disorders. Fiorinal is a non-addictive drug made up of caffeine, butalbital, and aspirin. Jorden received fiorinal for his muscle contraction headaches at ISP until his discharge on August 16, 1982.
On November 14, 1983, Jorden was reincarcerated at the Iowa State Reformatory at Anamosa. On December 29, 1983, he was transferred to ISP. Jorden was unable to obtain fiorinal at ISP because it had been removed from the prison formulary.
On March 14, 1984, Jorden was again referred to the Iowa University Hospitals by ISP officials for medical treatment. After examining Jorden, Dr. Jon Tippin, of the Department of Neurology at the University of Iowa Hospitals, prescribed fiorinal in order to relieve Jorden's severe muscle contraction headaches. In spite of Dr. Tippen's judgment that fiorinal be given to Jorden, prison officials have refused to provide Jorden with the drug.
In granting summary judgment for the defendants, the district court relied heavily on the affidavit submitted by Dr. Paul Loeffelholz, the medical consultant for the Iowa Department of Corrections. Dr. Loeffelholz' affidavit asserts that the phenobarbitol that Jorden is being given for his convulsive disorder is adequate to treat his muscle contraction headaches. Without resolving the issue as to whether the denial of fiorinal to Jorden was an administrative or medical decision, the court below held that a disagreement between the physicians does not amount to a deliberate indifference to a serious medical need so as to constitute a violation of the eighth amendment.
In order to state a claim under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 for a denial of medical care, Jorden must establish that defendants' conduct amounted to "deliberate indifference to serious medical needs." Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 292, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976). In order to find an eighth amendment violation, the deliberate indifference to a serious medical need must rise to the level of an unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain. Robinson v. Moreland, 655 F.2d 887, 889 (8th Cir.1981). Among the "unnecessary and wanton" inflictions of pain are those that are "totally without penological justification." Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 183, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 2929, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976) (joint opinion); Estelle, 429 U.S. at 103, 97 S.Ct. at 290-91.
In granting the summary judgment, the district court assumed that this was a dispute between treating physicians. Rather, the real issue appears to have been whether this was a dispute between physicians chosen by the prison (Dr. Tippin and Shivapour) and an administrator (Dr. Loeffelholz), thus creating a fact issue whether the denial to Jorden of fiorinal amounted to the kind of arbitrary decision constituting cruel and unusual punishment, and a matter for decision on the merits.
In a case quite similar to the one at issue, Sawyer v. Sigler, 320 F.Supp. 690, aff'd as to instant claimant, 445 F.2d 818, 819 (8th Cir.1971), the court held that the implementation of a prison policy requiring all medication to be taken in crushed or liquid form--a policy instituted because of the tendency of...
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White v. Farrier
...97 S.Ct. at 290-92. Actions without a penological justification may constitute an unnecessary infliction of pain. Jorden v. Farrier, 788 F.2d 1347, 1348 (8th Cir.1986). Mere negligence in diagnosing or treating a medical condition, however, is not a constitutional violation simply because t......