KENDALL J. NEWMAN, District Judge.
Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding without counsel, with a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The parties consented to the jurisdiction of the undersigned. (ECF No. 82.)
Plaintiff alleges that defendant Golubyatnikov provided him with inadequate dental care in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
In his April 3, 2014 reply to plaintiff's opposition, defendant observes that plaintiff failed to submit any evidence in support of his opposition. (ECF No. 87 at 1.) Apparently in response to this statement in the reply, on April 10, 2014, plaintiff filed a motion for an extension of time to re-submit exhibits. (ECF No. 88.) Plaintiff requests an extension of time to submit or "regain" exhibits that were damaged or destroyed by officials at the California Medical Facility ("CMF") prior to his transfer from that prison. (
To the extent plaintiff requests an extension of time to file evidence in support of his opposition, this request is denied. The court has previously advised plaintiff of the requirements for opposing summary judgment motions. (ECF No. 11.) Plaintiff had notice that his opposition was required to contain evidence supporting his claims or cite evidence in the record supporting his claims. Plaintiff may not supplement his opposition in response to defendant's reply.
Moreover, plaintiff is requesting an extension of time to "regain" exhibits that were allegedly damaged or destroyed by officials at CMF. On November 4, 2013, plaintiff filed a notice of change of address reflecting his transfer from CMF to the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility ("RJDCF"). (ECF No. 74.) Plaintiff has not demonstrated why he waited until defendant's summary judgment motion was fully briefed, i.e. approximately four months after his transfer away from CMF, to request an extension of time to obtain documents allegedly damaged or destroyed by CMF officials.
Following the filing of his motion for extension of time, plaintiff filed several pleadings suggesting that he submitted evidence in support of his claims prior to the filing of defendant's summary judgment motion. The undersigned describes these pleadings, which are difficult to understand, herein.
On April 16, 2014, plaintiff filed a pleading titled "motion of verification and exhibit `A.'" (ECF No. 90.) Attached to this pleading are pages of plaintiff's deposition transcript. (
On April 21, 2014, plaintiff filed a "motion/notice of exhibits (A) executed April 11, 2014 and mailed April 13, 2014 with proof of service." (ECF No. 91.) In this pleading, plaintiff appears to allege that he submitted evidence in support of his claims prior to the filing of defendant's summary judgment motion. (
On June 12, 2014, plaintiff filed a pleading requesting information regarding whether his exhibit packet was received. (ECF No. 92.) On July 14, 2014, plaintiff filed a motion for review. (ECF No. 93.) Although largely unintelligible, this pleading appears to claim that plaintiff previously submitted evidence in support of his claims.
It is not the undersigned's duty to review the entire record in order to determine whether plaintiff has previously submitted evidence in support of his claims.
Nevertheless, in an abundance of caution, the undersigned has reviewed the court record to determine whether plaintiff submitted any evidence in support of his claims. The undersigned located one pleading containing exhibits going to the merits of plaintiff's claims, i.e., plaintiff's May 7, 2013 "Request for Second Review by Court ..." (ECF No. 54.) It appears that this pleading was further briefing in support of plaintiff's opposition to defendant's motion to dismiss his state law claim. Attached to this pleading are administrative appeals and medical records regarding plaintiff's claim that defendant provided inadequate dental care. (
Finally, in an unrelated matter, the undersigned observes that on March 17, 2014 plaintiff filed a motion to vacate the order granting defendant an extension of time to file a dispositive motion. (ECF No. 83.) This motion is denied as without merit.
Summary judgment is appropriate when it is demonstrated that the standard set forth in Federal Rule of Civil procedure 56 is met. "The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).
Under summary judgment practice, the moving party always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying those portions of "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any," which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.
Consequently, if the moving party meets its initial responsibility, the burden then shifts to the opposing party to establish that a genuine issue as to any material fact actually exists.
In the endeavor to establish the existence of a factual dispute, the opposing party need not establish a material issue of fact conclusively in its favor. It is sufficient that "the claimed factual dispute be shown to require a jury or judge to resolve the parties' differing versions of the truth at trial."
In resolving a summary judgment motion, the court examines the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). The evidence of the opposing party is to be believed.
Deliberate indifference to a prisoner's serious illness or injury, or risks of serious injury or illness, gives rise to a claim under the Eighth Amendment.
There are two prongs to the deliberate-indifference analysis: an objective standard and a subjective standard. First, a prisoner must show a "serious medical need."
Second, a prisoner must show that the defendant's response to that need was deliberately indifferent.
Defendant filed a statement of undisputed facts. (ECF No. 84-3.) Plaintiff did not file a response to defendant's statement of undisputed facts or his own statement of undisputed facts. Accordingly, defendant's statement of undisputed facts is adopted herein, to the extent it is not disputed by plaintiff's verified pleadings.
Defendant Golubyatnikov is a licensed dentist employed by the State of California. (ECF No. 84-8 at 1.) Defendant has been employed as a dentist by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR") at Folsom State Prison ("FSP") since July 2003. (
Hemophilia B is an inherited disorder of coagulation and thrombosis (the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel) in which the afflicted patient has insufficient amounts of a particular chemical (factor IX or 9) that is required to clot blood. (ECF No. 85 at 2.) Persons with hemophilia B experience very much the same symptoms as persons with the far more common condition of hemophilia A where blood clots form poorly for lack of factor VII. (
In both hemophilia A and B, persons can be affected to only a mild degree or more seriously. (
Compared to hemophilia A, treatment for hemophilia B is particularly hazardous in that the manufactured concentrates, despite their safety in not spreading infection, may paradoxically increase clots or be "thrombogenic" in some patients. (
Defendant works at FSP from 5:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (ECF No. 84-8 at 1.) Defendant was first scheduled to treat plaintiff on July 13, 2011. (
Plaintiff was transferred to FSP on June 30, 2011. (
On July 13, 2011, defendant saw plaintiff for a comprehensive dental examination. (
Upon examination, defendant found that plaintiff had chronic periodontitis in tooth #18 (second molar on lower left side of the jaw). (
The extraction of tooth #18 was scheduled for September 12, 2011. (
Based on defendant's review of plaintiff's medical history, the dental examination he conducted on July 13, 2011, and the type of extraction that was to be performed, defendant did not believe that intravenous injections of Factor 9 would be needed before the extraction. (
On September 12, 2011, defendant reviewed plaintiff's medical records again and found that there were no changes in plaintiff's condition and his hemophilia was stable. (
After applying the Gelfoam and suturing the extraction site, defendant placed gauze over the site and applied pressure to stop any normal bleeding as a result of the extraction. (
Defendant prescribed penicillin and ibuprofen for pain. (
Defendant had plaintiff sit in the dental chair while he wrote his progress notes of the treatment provided to plaintiff that day. (
Defendant left FSP on September 12, 2011, around 4 p.m., after his shift had concluded. (
On the evening of September 12, 2011, Dr. Skeoch was the on-call dentist at FSP. (ECF No. 84-7 at 1.) On September 12, 2011, Dr. Skeoch received a phone call at home at about 6:05 p.m. from Nurse Aseel at FSP informing him that plaintiff was bleeding from extraction site #18. (
At 6:30 p.m., Dr. Skeoch called Nurse Aseel and was informed that plaintiff was still bleeding, so Dr. Skeoch decided to go to the prison. (
When Dr. Skeoch saw plaintiff on September 12, 2011, he was not informed by plaintiff or Nurse Aseel that there was a stock of Factor 9 available in the TTA. (
Had Dr. Puig known that the Factor 9 was in the TTA, plaintiff could have received it at FSP. (ECF No. 84-6 at 2.)
When defendant arrived at work on the morning of September 13, 2011, he planned to follow-up with plaintiff, but was informed that plaintiff had been sent to San Joaquin General Hospital to receive a Factor 9 injection due to excessive bleeding. (ECF No. 84-8 at 4.) Defendant called San Joaquin General Hospital later that afternoon and was informed that plaintiff still had mild bleeding, but he received the Factor 9 injections and was in stable condition.
When plaintiff returned to FSP, defendant updated plaintiff's dental records to indicate that the doctor at San Joaquin General Hospital had recommended that, in the future, plaintiff should receive an injection one to two hours before any surgery, including tooth extractions, and if it is a big surgery, he should also receive it three to four days after surgery.
Dr. Puig saw plaintiff for a follow-up appointment on September 16, 2011, a day after he returned from San Joaquin General Hospital. (ECF No. 84-6 at 2.) Dr. Puig reviewed plaintiff's chart and visually inspected the extraction site. (
Plaintiff alleges that defendant acted with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs by failing to give him Factor 9 prior to the tooth extraction. Defendant moves for summary judgment on grounds that he did not act with deliberate indifference to plaintiff's medical needs. Defendant does not appear to dispute that plaintiff meets the objective component of deliberate indifference standard, i.e., he had a serious medical need. Defendant moves for summary judgment as to the subjective component of the deliberate indifference standard.
In support of his motion, defendant has also provided the declaration of Dr. Bruce Barnett, the Chief Medical Officer for the California Health Care Services, Receiver's Office of Legal Affairs. (ECF No. 85.) Dr. Barnett states that after reviewing plaintiff's medical records,
(
In his reply, plaintiff argues that defendant reviewed medical records indicating that administration of Factor 9 was warranted. Plaintiff refers to Dr. Cardeno's order renewing the factor 9 prescription which stated that factor 9 was to be used "PRN injury, before surgery or for bleeding." In addition, plaintiff's hematologist, Dr. Chang, also recommended that plaintiff receive Factor 9 when "injured, bleeding or surgery."
As it turned out, plaintiff faced a serious risk of harm by not receiving Factor 9 prior to the extraction. Plaintiff's exhibits, filed May 7, 2013, contain medical records indicating that plaintiff had a recurrence of bleeding after he returned to FSP from San Joaquin General Hospital and was returned to the hospital for further treatment. (ECF No. 54 at 35.) Plaintiff's suffered more serious problems following the tooth extraction then represented by defendant in his summary judgment motion. However, for the following reasons, the undersigned finds that defendant did not act with deliberate indifference to plaintiff's serious medical needs by failing to give plaintiff Factor 9 prior to extracting his tooth.
The evidence demonstrates that defendant was unaware of facts from which an inference could be drawn that failing to give plaintiff Factor 9 before the extraction put plaintiff at a substantial risk of serious harm.
In deciding not to give plaintiff Factor 9, defendant noted that plaintiff had mild hemophilia B. Defendant knew that plaintiff had only required Factor 9 in the past for major injuries. While defendant was aware of the recommendations by Dr. Cardeno and Dr. Chang that plaintiff receive Factor 9 when "injured, bleeding or surgery," defendant reasonably determined, based on the record before him, that a simple tooth extraction with minimal bleeding did not warrant prophylactic administration of Factor 9. In addition, defendant determined that any risk was minimized by the availability of Factor 9 at the prison. Based on these facts, defendant reasonably inferred that plaintiff did not face a substantial risk of serious harm by failing to receive Factor 9 prior to the extraction.
Moreover, to the extent it could be argued that an inference of serious risk could be made from the facts described above, there is no evidence that defendant drew that inference.
Plaintiff may be claiming that defendant is responsible for his failure to receive Factor 9 at the prison. However, there is no evidence that the failure of prison officials to know that Factor 9 was available at the prison was based on any actions by defendant. In other words, plaintiff has provided no evidence linking defendant to plaintiff's delay in receipt of Factor 9.
In conclusion, for the reasons discussed above, the undersigned finds that defendant did not act with deliberate indifference by failing to administer Factor 9 to plaintiff before his tooth extraction. At most, defendant acted negligently. However, negligence does not constitute a violation of plaintiff's Eighth Amendment rights. On these grounds, defendant is granted summary judgment.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. Defendant's summary judgment motion (ECF No. 84) is granted;
2. Plaintiff's motion to vacate and motion and for an extension of time (ECF Nos. 83, 88) are denied; and
3. Plaintiff's motion of review (ECF No. 93) is granted with respect to plaintiff's request that the court review the record to determine whether he submitted any evidence in support of his claims.