Landry v. Tex. Dep't of Criminal Justice
| Decision Date | 10 June 2020 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. H-17-370 |
| Parties | JANA LANDRY, individually, and as next of kin and personal representative of MATTHEW NELSON, deceased, Plaintiff, v. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas |
Matthew Nelson had just begun to serve a 63-year sentence in the Gurney Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice when he committed suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet. He had previously attempted suicide while in the Harris County Jail, causing the Jail's medical staff to place him on suicide precautions. Within a week, the Jail removed those precautions, based on mental-health exams the Jail's medical staff performed. When the County transferred Nelson to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, it did not warn the unit of Nelson's suicidal history, other than by providing Nelson's medical records. The records documented his history of mental health problems and suicide attempts.
Jana Landry, Nelson's mother, sued Harris County, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and several individual medical and correctional officers, asserting Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment violations under § 1983, claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, and state-law malpractice, wrongful-death, and survival claims. The defendants moved for summary judgment, and Landry responded, addressing only her Eighth Amendment claim against Harris County.
After considering the briefs, the summary judgment record, and the applicable law, the court grants the defendants' motions for summary judgment on all claims. The reasons are explained in detail below.
Matthew Nelson was charged with, and pleaded not guilty to, possession with intent to deliver 4 to 200 grams of methamphetamine. (Docket Entry No. 90-1 at 1). He was booked into the Harris County Jail on November 14, 2014. (Docket Entry No. 90-3 at 2). Nelson rejected a plea deal and went to trial, and the jury convicted him. (Docket Entry No. 90-1 at 1; Docket Entry No. 90-2 at 30). On January 20, 2015, he was sentenced to serve 63 years in prison. (Docket Entry No. 90-3 at 2).
Nelson frequently saw medical and mental-health staff while at the Harris County Jail. On his first day there, Nelson jumped from a bench, trying to land on his head. (Docket Entry No. 90-2 at 1-4). The records from Nelson's doctor visit that day show that he had been using crystal meth that morning and that he told the doctor he was suicidal. (Id. at 4). The next day, Nelson saw Dr. Conrad Gibby, who wrote in his medical progress note that Nelson felt depressed "because he [felt] he was wrongly accused and [would] be [in jail] the rest of his life." (Id. at 6). Nelson complained of severe back pain, so Dr. Gibby prescribed medicine for that pain and for his hypertension. (Id. at 6-8). Dr. Gibby told Nelson to follow up with the Chronic Care Clinic in three weeks for his hypertension. (Id. at 8).
Harris County then sent Nelson to Dr. Sunil Athavale, who conducted an initial psychiatric assessment. (Id. at 30-31). Dr. Athavale stated that Nelson's history of drug and alcohol abuse may have caused his psychiatric symptoms. (Id. at 30). Nelson told Dr. Athavale that he had been admitted to psychiatric care as a teenager for "acting out," that he had cut his wrists 15 years earlier, and that his jump off the bench the day before had been a suicide attempt. (Id. at 30). Dr. Athavale admitted Nelson to the Jail's mental health unit and placed him on suicide precautions, noting that "he wants to try to find any way he can to die." (Id. at 31). Dr. Athavale also prescribed medicine for Nelson's depression. (Id. at 31). Licensed vocational nurses in the Jail's mental health unit admitted Nelson. The nurses' notes stated that Nelson intended to commit suicide. (Id. at 9).
Over the next two weeks, Nelson appeared to improve. On November 16, 2014, Hazel Wooding, a nurse practitioner in the mental health unit, examined Nelson and continued him on suicide precautions, even though he appeared to be calm, cooperative, and in no distress. (Id. at 12). The next day, Dr. Najeed Riaz saw Nelson. (Id. at 14). Dr. Riaz noted that Nelson denied having suicidal thoughts, but the doctor continued the suicide precautions. (Id.). Dr. Riaz saw Nelson again the next day and conducted a suicide-risk assessment. (Id. at 26-28). Nelson scored in the low range, and Dr. Riaz then removed Nelson from suicide precautions. (Id. at 26-27, 32-33). On November 24, 2014, Dr. Riaz noted that Nelson appeared calm, pleasant, and cooperative, and that he denied suicidal thoughts. (Id. at 28). Dr. Riaz discharged Nelson from the mental health unit to a stepdown unit and asked for a follow-up appointment with the mental health unit in one month. (Id. at 28-29). Dr. Riaz did not change Nelson's prescriptions for hypertension, pain, or depression. (Id.).
Medical staff saw Nelson the day after he was discharged and noted that he was eating, sleeping at night, denied suicidal thoughts or acute psychological distress, and that he was pleasant, goal-oriented, and logical. (Id. at 34-35).
Two weeks later, Nelson had a mental-health checkup with Angela Jones, a Licensed Practitioner of the Healing Arts. Jones reported that Nelson was taking his medications and that he was feeling less depressed. (Id. at 36-37). Nelson told Jones that his 63-year sentence had triggered his suicidal thoughts, but he had hired a new attorney and was hopeful about an appeal. (Id. at 36). Nelson continued to deny suicidal intent or psychological distress, and Jones recommended Nelson's transfer to the Jail's general population. (Id. at 37).
Nelson continued to show improvement. In December 2014, Registered Nurse Rosemary Ojih did a comprehensive health assessment. (Id. at 20). She noted Nelson's history of attempted suicide; once by trying to hit his head on the floor during intake and once by cutting himself years earlier. (Id. at 18). Nelson told her that he had no plans to commit suicide. (Id.).
Later that month, another nurse, Mansong Ntekim, saw Nelson to monitor his mental-health medications. (Id. at 22). Nelson told her that he was doing well on his medicine. (Id.). She wrote that Nelson denied feeling depressed, and that he appeared alert and calm, with normal speech. (Id.). A few days later, Dr. Mireya Hansen saw Nelson for his one-month mental-health follow-up appointment. Nelson continued to report that he did not have suicidal thoughts or plans and was in a good mood. (Id. at 24). Dr. Hansen found no side effects from Nelson's medicine and wrote that no changes were needed. (Id.).
Nelson also visited the Jail's Chronic Care Clinic for his hypertension. A physician's assistant, Sharon Lambi, examined Nelson and took his blood-pressure reading. (Id. at 42-44). Nelson told Lambi that his blood pressure had been normal two days earlier, but that it was"always high" in a doctor's clinic. (Id. at 43). Lambi did not change Nelson's medications. (Id. at 43-44). Nelson continued to show high blood-pressure readings. When Dr. Syed Rahman saw Nelson on December 26, 2014, he increased the strength of Nelson's medicine. (Id. at 48-50). When Lambi saw Nelson again on December 31, 2014, his heart rate and blood pressure remained high. (Id. at 52). Lambi prescribed two new medications for blood pressure and cholesterol, and she ordered his blood pressure to be monitored. (Id. at 53-54).
Two and a half months passed without relevant incidents. But in March 2015, another inmate told Detention Officer Girma Abebe that Nelson had cut his neck. (Docket Entry No. 90-11 at 1). Officer Abebe found Nelson using a pay phone and saw "a big gash" on Nelson's neck. (Id.). She called for other officers. As she approached Nelson, she saw blood on his mattress. (Id.). She handcuffed Nelson and led him out of the cellblock. (Id.). As she led him away, she asked Nelson what had happened to his neck. Nelson replied, "I cut myself while shaving my face." (Id.). While Officer Abebe was leading Nelson to the Jail's clinic, he broke loose from her grip and tried to slam his head against the wall. (Id.). A nurse treated Nelson, cleaned his cut, and referred him to psychiatry. (Id.).
Nelson saw both Dr. Gibby and another psychiatrist, Dr. Pilar Laborde. (Docket Entry No. 90-2 at 59-61). Dr. Laborde reported that Nelson "vehemently denie[d]" that the cut on his neck was a suicide attempt. (Id. at 59). Dr. Laborde wrote that Nelson showed symptoms consistent with ADHD and appeared to be "extremely depressed" because he thought his girlfriend was about to break up with him. (Id.). Dr. Laborde told Nelson his suspicion that Nelson cut his neck in "one more on a list of suicide 'rehearsals,'" but Nelson "adamantly denied it." (Id.). Dr. Laborde performed another suicide-risk assessment and again determined that Nelson belonged in the Jail's general population. (Id. at 66-67). Nelson scored slightly higherthan before, but he was still within the low-risk range. (Id. at 67). Dr. Laborde wrote new prescriptions for mood stability, sleep, anxiety, depression, and ADHD. (Id. at 65).
On March 30, 2015, Nelson had a panic attack. (Docket Entry No. 90-12 at 1). A Detention Officer found Nelson and brought him out of his cellblock to check on him. (Id.). Nelson told the officer that he had missed a dose of his pain medicine and was having a panic attack because of severe pain in his legs. (Id.). The officer called the clinic, but the responding nurse said that she could not give Nelson medicine so close to the next prescribed dose. (Id.). Nelson then stood up and ran head-first into a wall. (Id.). When Nurse Stacy Barton treated Nelson in the clinic, Nelson told her that he "ran [his] head into the wall to knock [himself] out because no one will listen to [him] about [his] legs." (...
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