Walker v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-prison medical officials’ motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-prisoners’ section 1983 action alleging that defendants were deliberately indifferent to his primary lateral sclerosis condition by failing to ensure that he received proper follow-up care after his surgery and by allowing undue delays in his treatment by outside specialists. Plaintiff was required to show that delay in his treatment, as opposed to his underlying medical condition, caused some harm, and that defendants’ actions caused delays in treatment. Moreover, plaintiff failed to make such requisite showing, where: (1) defendant-physician’s decision to wait for test results before referring defendant to specialists was not evidence of deliberate indifference and was consistent with reasonable medical judgment; (2) defendant-physician responded to plaintiff’s changing symptoms and was responsive to specialists’ recommendations; and (3) defendant did was he could within limits of his role in treating plaintiff. Also, plaintiff failed to show that defendant-entity was indifferent to his medical needs, where: (1) plaintiff failed to show that prison’s onsite medical facilities were insufficient to cover plaintiff’s medical needs during periods in which plaintiff was waiting for treatment provided by outside specialists; and (2) plaintiff lacked evidence that defendant entity was on notice that wait times for outside treatment were likely to cause constitutional violations.