Quinn v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting summary judgment motion filed by defendants-prison social worker and correctional officer, as well as entity that supplied mental health services to inmates, where plaintiff-deceased prisoner alleged that defendants were deliberately indifferent to his mental health needs, that entity failed to provide continuity of care during plaintiff’s transfer between prison facilities, and that defendants’ actions resulted in plaintiff’s suicide. While plaintiff’s representative argued that defendant social worker exhibited deliberate indifference when she failed to contact appropriate medical staff after she read two letters written by plaintiff, record showed that social worker construed both letters in positive way as examples of plaintiff’s successful articulation of anger and desire for advocacy, as well as plaintiff’s statement about efficacy of his medications. As such, plaintiff failed to show that social worker, which was not otherwise responsible for plaintiff’s mental health treatment, thought that plaintiff was at risk of suicide, Also, plaintiff did not show that defendant-correctional officer was aware that plaintiff was experiencing mental distress on night of his death. As to defendant-entity, plaintiff could not establish viable 8th Amendment claim, where plaintiff failed to present evidence that there were systemic and gross deficiencies in entity’s transfer procedures or lack thereof.