Woodall v. Foti, 79-3601
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
| Writing for the Court | Before CHARLES CLARK, REAVLEY and WILLIAMS; PER CURIAM |
| Citation | 648 F.2d 268 |
| Parties | Ray Thomas WOODALL, Jr., Petitioner-Appellant, v. Charles A. FOTI, Jr., et al., Respondents-Appellees. Summary Calendar. . Unit A |
| Docket Number | No. 79-3601,79-3601 |
| Decision Date | 16 June 1981 |
Page 268
v.
Charles A. FOTI, Jr., et al., Respondents-Appellees.
Fifth Circuit.
Unit A
Page 270
Ray T. Woodall, Jr., pro se.
Freeman R. Matthews, Legal Staff, Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Dept., New Orleans, La., for respondents-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Before CHARLES CLARK, REAVLEY and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Ray T. Woodall is an inmate in the Orleans Parish Prison. Acting pro se, he brought this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Charles A. Foti, the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff in charge of the parish prison, and against the Louisiana Department of Corrections, alleging that he had been denied medically necessary psychiatric care in derogation of his rights under the Eighth Amendment. The district court denied Woodall leave to proceed in forma pauperis, holding that his lawsuit was frivolous, and dismissed the case for failure to state a claim. We vacate and remand.
I.
Woodall's handwritten form petition alleges that he had been receiving psychiatric counseling twice weekly before he was incarcerated and that he had been diagnosed as a manic depressive with suicidal tendencies. He also alleges that he had previously been confined at the Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville, Louisiana, for treatment of pedophilia, a psychiatric condition in which the patient has an abnormal sexual desire for children, and that his incarceration resulted from his engaging in this deviant sexual practice. He states that he had written letters to Sheriff Foti requesting psychiatric counseling, that he had seen the Orleans Parish Prison psychiatrist, and that the psychiatrist had advised him that he was in need of psychiatric counseling but that the prison could not provide the type of counseling necessary for treating pedophilia. He sought injunctive relief requiring the parish prison to provide him with the psychiatric treatment appropriate for his condition.
The district court denied Woodall's motion to proceed in forma pauperis, but it permitted him to file his complaint without prepayment of fees and then ordered the case to be dismissed immediately thereafter. The district court held that Woodall's lawsuit was frivolous within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) because it failed to state a claim cognizable under section 1983. The court recognized that deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of prisoners could amount to cruel and unusual punishment. However, it concluded that Woodall's complaint did not allege such deliberate indifference by Foti since Woodall had seen the parish prison's staff psychiatrist who had told him that he could not provide treatment for pedophilia. The district court construed Woodall's complaint to be that the staff psychiatrist had determined Woodall's condition to be insufficiently serious to warrant further treatment. The court also apparently assumed that Woodall and the prison psychiatrist had merely disagreed about what kind of psychiatric treatment would be appropriate and then decided that such a difference of opinion would not state a cause of action under section 1983.
Shortly after the district court entered its order dismissing his complaint, Woodall filed two handwritten letters addressed to the district judge. In the first letter, Woodall insisted that the district court had misinterpreted his complaint, requested the court to reconsider its prior holding, and elaborated on the circumstances surrounding Sheriff Foti's denial of psychiatric treatment. Woodall denied that he and the prison psychiatrist had disagreed about the appropriate manner of psychiatric treatment. According to Woodall, the psychiatrist had not told Woodall that further treatment was unnecessary as the district court had apparently assumed. Rather, the psychiatrist said that psychotherapy was the medically indicated method of treatment,
Page 271
that he was a chemotherapist unqualified to administer psychotherapy, and that his own heavy case load at the prison and other institutions prohibited his rendering effective medical assistance to Woodall. The letter alleges that Sheriff Foti categorically refused to provide specialized psychiatric treatment.Woodall also provided additional background information concerning his prior psychiatric treatment. He explained that his depression was a reaction to his crime and the subsequent legal proceedings. Although he had been receiving regular psychiatric treatment, including drug therapy, his depression gradually grew more acute. Finally, after Woodall attempted to commit suicide, his psychiatrist recommended he be hospitalized. He then remained in the hospital's custody throughout his criminal trial but was "kept in virtual solitary confinement" in the Orleans Parish Prison for the first three and a half weeks of his imprisonment. He...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hare v. City of Corinth, Miss., No. EC 91-248-D-D.
...such protective action in that the detainee presents a risk of damage to himself and other inmates. The substance of Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268, 272 (5th Cir.1981), is most enlightening, if not directive. Thus, the defense of qualified immunity is not available to Warden Lewis v. Parish ......
-
Green v. Rubenstein, Civil Action No. 5:07-cv-00363.
...is one of medical necessity and not one simply of desirability." Royal, No. 7:08-cv-00222, 2008 WL 5169443 *6 (quoting Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268, 272 (5th Cir. 1981)). To establish an Eighth Amendment cause of action for deliberate indifference to a serious dental need, Plaintiff must s......
-
Thomas v. Beth Israel Hosp. Inc., 88 Civ. 5440 (RWS).
...by a pro se plaintiff, courts should apply less rigorous standards than they apply to pleadings prepared by lawyers. See Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268, 271 (5th Standard for Summary Judgment Summary judgment is authorized if "there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the mov......
-
Rumbaugh v. Procunier, 83-1161
...Moreover, the trial court's evaluation of competency is often based in part on discussions with the defendant, see Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268 (5th Cir.1981), and nothing in the competency to stand trial determination necessitates an inquiry into the presence, absence, or effect of a "men......
-
Green v. Stephens, CIVIL ACTION NO. H-14-1017
...file. See Martin v. Maxey, 98 F.3d 844, 847 n.4 (5th Cir. 1996); Guidroz v. Lynaugh, 852 F.2d 832, 834 (5th Cir. 1988); Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268, 271 (5th Cir. Unit A June 1981). This court broadly interprets Green's state and federal habeas petitions. Bledsue v. Johnson, 188 F.3d 250,......
-
Ishler v. C.I.R., Civil Action No. CV-05-S-1108-NE.
...Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972)); Harmon v. Berry, 728 F.2d 1407, 1409 (11th Cir.1984) (same); Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268, 271 (5th Cir.1981)17 ("A pro se complaint, however inartfully drafted, must be held to less rigorous standards than the formal pleadings pr......
-
Williams v. Bennett, No. 81-7037
...642 F.2d 134, 136 (5th Cir. 1981). Accord Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106, 97 S.Ct. 285, 292, 50 L.Ed.2d 251 (1976); Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268, 272 (5th Cir. 1981) (per curiam). To establish a deprivation of his eighth amendment rights, Williams therefore must bear the burden of pro......
-
Rumbaugh v. Procunier, No. 83-1161
...Moreover, the trial court's evaluation of competency is often based in part on discussions with the defendant, see Woodall v. Foti, 648 F.2d 268 (5th Cir.1981), and nothing in the competency to stand trial determination necessitates an inquiry into the presence, absence, or effect of a "men......