West v. Atkins, 85-6483
| Decision Date | 03 September 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-6483,85-6483 |
| Citation | 799 F.2d 923 |
| Parties | Quincy WEST, Appellant, v. Samuel ATKINS; Rae McNamara; James B. Hunt, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Richard E. Giroux, North Carolina Legal Services, Inc., Raleigh, N.C., for appellant.
Jacob L. Safron, Sp. Deputy Atty. Gen. (Lacy H. Thornburg, Atty. Gen., Raleigh, N.C., on brief) for appellees.
Before HARRISON L. WINTER, Chief Judge, and MURNAGHAN and ERVIN, Circuit Judges.
Presented by a North Carolina prisoner, Quincy West, with a claim under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 that he was deliberately denied adequate medical help by a physician under contract with the state to provide orthopedic care to prisoners, we find it premature to grant summary judgment simply on the grounds that Calvert v. Sharp, 748 F.2d 861 (4th Cir.1984), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 2667, 86 L.Ed.2d 283 (1985), bars recovery because a private doctor under contract with the state could not be engaged in state action. "The professional obligations and functions of a private physician establish that such a physician does not act under color of state law when providing medical services to an inmate." Id. at 863.
The common law distinction between employee and independent contractor, while not wholly irrelevant, since some of the differences between those two statutes bear on the constitutional issue presented, nevertheless, for common law purposes had different objectives. Whether Dr. Samuel Atkins was or was not a state employee for common law purposes simply does not indisputably settle the question of whether what he did amounted to state action.
To clear the decks and concentrate on the claim against Atkins, we affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of James B. Hunt, Jr., the then Governor of North Carolina, the doctrine of respondeat superior having no application in Sec. 1983 actions. Vinnedge v. Gibbs, 550 F.2d 926, 928 (4th Cir.1977). Rae McNamara, the Director of the prison system, on the other hand, according to the record before us, is shown to have received two complaining letters from West and to have conducted at least a cursory investigation. Any cause of action which may successfully be made out against her, therefore, stands on a basis of liability for her own acts. Consequently, if Atkins might be liable, grounds for requiring her to respond might also exist.
West was injured while playing basketball on July 30, 1983. The Achilles tendon on his left leg was torn. Atkins examined West and concluded that he should schedule surgery, but that he first wanted to see if the tendon would grow back together. Atkins placed West's leg in a series of casts and eventually West received medication for the pain. During September and October 1983 the leg remained swollen and pained West, but prison officials sanctioned West for refusing to work. West has alleged repeated, but frustrated, attempts to have proper...
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West v. Atkins
...West's injury. App. 37. A panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated the District Court's judgment. 799 F.2d 923 (1986). Rather than considering if Calvert could be distinguished, the panel remanded the case to the District Court for an assessment whether the......
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West v. Atkins
...court's dismissal of these claims. AFFIRMED. HARRISON L. WINTER, Chief Judge, concurring and dissenting: When the panel heard this appeal, 799 F.2d 923, it could not, under our established practice, question the correctness of the holding in Calvert v. Sharp, 748 F.2d 861 (4 Cir.1984), cert......
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...conduct demonstrated deliberate indifference to a serious medical condition. See Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976); West v. Atkins, 799 F.2d 923 (4th Cir.1986). Neither malpractice nor negligent diagnosis is sufficient to state a federal cause of action. Estelle, 429 U.S. at 106; Wester......