Robinson v. Waterman

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-prison medical personnel’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-prisoner’s section 1983 action, alleging that: (1) defendant-nurse was deliberately indifferent to his serious medical risk by directing him to take certain medication that was given to him under circumstances where said medication was actually prescribed for different prisoner, and where plaintiff had serious adverse reaction to said medication; and (2) defendant-health services manager failed to intervene on his behalf in violation of plaintiff’s constitutional rights. Plaintiff also asserted that defendants-nurses and officers responsible for giving him said medication were negligent under Wisc. law. While plaintiff did not file response to defendants’ summary judgment motion, Dist. Ct. erred in noting that defendants were entitled to summary judgment merely because plaintiff had failed to file response. However, plaintiff's failure to file response entitled Dist. Ct. to deem as admitted, facts contained in defendants’ motion, and, under said facts, no reasonable jury could conclude that defendant-nurse who directed plaintiff to take medication after defendant had adverse reaction, was deliberately indifferent to serious medical risk, where said nurse was not involved in plaintiff’s medical care. Moreover, same result applied to defendant-health services manager, where plaintiff failed to identify underlying constitutional violation that had occurred by failing to intervene on his behalf. Also, plaintiff failed to comply with Wisc. statute with respect to his negligence claim, since plaintiff failed to use defendants’ correct names in his notice of claim.