Peters v. Prime Care Medical, Inc.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

STEVEN M. PETERS, | Civil No. 3:22-cv-1542

Plaintiff (Judge Mariani)

. Ss FILED

PRIME CARE MEDICAL INC., etal, CRANTON

MAY 1) 2003

Defendants rx

MEMORANDUM DEPUTY CLERK

Plaintiff Steven Peters (“Peters”), an inmate formerly held as a pretrial detainee at

the Perry County Prison, initiated this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Doc.

1). Named as Defendants are PrimeCare Medical, Inc. (“PrimeCare”) and Shelby Bailey,

LPN (together, the “PrimeCare Defendants”), and the Perry County Prison, Warden Barclay

and two John Doe correctional officers (collectively, the “County Defendants”). Presently

before the Court is a Rule 12(b) motion (Doc. 25) to dismiss by the PrimeCare Defendants.

Peters failed to respond to the motion and the time for responding has now passed.1

Therefore, the motion is deemed unopposed and ripe for resolution. For the reasons set

forth below, the Court will grant the motion.

1 Peters was directed to file a brief in opposition to Defendants’ motion and was admonished that

failure to file an opposition brief would result in Defendants’ motion being deemed unopposed. (Doc. 27)

(citing M.D. PA. LOCAL RULE OF Court 7.6).

Allegations of the Complaint

On December 18, 2021, prior to his detention at the Perry County Prison, Peters

underwent surgery on his right leg to repair injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

(Doc. 1 1-3). Peters was prescribed pain medication, had to use crutches, and undergo

physical therapy. (Id. [5).

On March 11, 2022, Peters was arrested for violating terms of his probation and was

detained at the Perry County Prison for approximately five (5) days. (/d. Tf] 7-8, 13). Peters

asserts that when he arrived at the Perry County Prison, he was using crutches and was

admitted to the Prison’s medical unit. (/d. J] 9-10). He asserts that he arrived at the Perry

County Prison on a Friday, and the Prison did not have medical staff available on the

weekend “to handle his] types of injuries.” (Id. 13). Peters alleges that he requested to

be transported to an outside hospital because the Perry County Prison did not have access

to medical staff twenty-four hours per day. (/d. Jf 12-14).

On March 14, 2022, Defendant Bailey allegedly performed a medical evaluation. (Id.

q 15). Peters alleges that Defendant Bailey took his vitals, administered COVID-19 and

tuberculosis tests, but failed to assess his leg. (/d.).

On March 15, 2022, Peters was released from the Perry County Prison. (id. J 17),

Peters believes that he was released from the Perry County Prison due to the Prison’s

alleged inability to tend to his medical needs. (Id. 19] 17-18).

2

Peters sets forth claims under the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth

Amendment, a failure to train claim, a Monell? liability claim, and a claim under the

Pennsylvania Constitution. (/d. at pp. 8-9).

ll. Legal Standard .

A complaint must be dismissed under Feb. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), if it does not allege

“enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v.

Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 167 L. Ed. 2d 929 (2007). The plaintiff must

aver “factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the

defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S. Ct.

1937, 1949, 173 L. Ed. 2d 868 (2009).

“Though a complaint ‘does not need detailed factual allegations, . . . a formulaic

recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” DelRio-Mocci v. Connolly Prop.

Inc., 672 F.3d 241, 245 (3d Cir. 2012) (citing Twombly, 990 U.S. at 555). In other words,

“[flactual allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level.”

Covington v. Int'l Ass’n-of Approved Basketball Officials, 710 F.3d 114, 118 (3d Cir. 2013)

(internal citations and quotation marks omitted). A court “take|s| as true all the factual

allegations in the Complaint and the reasonable inferences that can be drawn from those

facts, but . .. disregard[s] legal conclusions and threadbare recitals of the elements of a

2 Monell v. New York City Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 691 (1978) (pursuant to Monell, a

private corporation can be held liable for constitutional violations only if it has a custom or policy exhibiting

deliberate indifference to a prisoner's serious medical needs).

cause of action, supported by mere conclusory statements.” Ethypharm S.A. France v.

Abbott Laboratories, 707 F.3d 223, 231, n.14 (3d Cir. 2013) (internal citations and quotation

marks omitted). □

Twombly and Iqbal require [a district court] to take the following three steps to

determine the sufficiency of a complaint: First, the court must take note of the

elements a plaintiff must plead to state a claim. Second, the court should

identify allegations that, because they are no more than conclusions, are not

entitled to the assumption of truth. Finally, where there are well-pleaded

factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine

whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement for relief.

Connelly v. Steel Valley Sch. Dist., 706 F.3d 209, 212 (3d Cir. 2013).

“[W]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere

possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged - but it has not show(n] - that the

pleader is entitled to relief.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 679 (internal citations and quotation marks

omitted). This “plausibility” determination will be a “context-specific task that requires the

reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id.

However, even “if a complaint is subject to Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal, a district court

must permit a curative amendment unless such an amendment would be inequitable or

futile.” Phillips v. Cnty. of Allegheny, 515 F.3d 224, 245 (3d Cir. 2008).

[E]ven when plaintiff does not seek leave to amend his complaint after a

defendant moves to dismiss it, unless the district court finds that amendment

would be inequitable or futile, the court must inform the plaintiff that he or she

has leave to amend the complaint within a set period of time.

Id.

Ill. Discussion

A. Eighth Amendment Claim?

In the context of medical care, the Eighth Amendment “requires prison officials to

provide basic medical treatment to those whom it has incarcerated.” Rouse v. Plantier, 182

F.3d 192, 197 (3d Cir. 1999). To establish an Eighth Amendment claim based on a prison’s

denial of medical care, an inmate must allege acts or omissions by prison officials that were

sufficiently harmful to establish deliberate indifference to a serious medical need. See

Spruill v. Gillis, 372 F.3d 218, 235 (3d Cir. 2004); Natale v. Camden Cty. Corr. Facility, 318

F.3d 575, 582 (3d Cir. 2003). The relevant inquiry is whether the defendant: (1) was

subjectively deliberately indifferent (2) to the plaintiff's objectively serious medical needs.

Farmer, 511 U.S. at 834, 837; Chavarriaga v. N.J. Dep't of Corr., 806 F.3d 210, 226 (3d Cir.

2015).

The “deliberate indifference” prong of the applicable Eighth Amendment analysis

requires that the defendant actually know of and disregard “an excessive risk to inmate □

health or safety.” Farmer, 511 U.S. at 837. Circumstantial evidence can establish

3 Asset forth in the complaint, Peters was a pretrial detainee at the Perry County Prison. The

-Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies to pretrial detainees’ claims of inadequate

medical care. See Natale v. Camden Cty.| Corr. Facility, 318 F.3d 575, 581 (3d Cir. 2003). The Supreme

Court, however, has held that the Fourteenth Amendment affords pretrial detainees protections that are “at

least as great’ as those afforded to convicted prisoners under the Eighth Amendment. See id. (quoting City

of Revere v. Mass. Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239, 244 (1983)). In the context of claims for inadequate medical

care, the Third Circuit has “found no reason to apply a different standard than that set forth in Estelle [v.

Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976)] (pertaining to prisoners’ claims of inadequate medical care under the Eighth

Amendment) when evaluating whether a claim for inadequate medical care by a pre-trial detainee is

sufficient under the Fourteenth Amendment.” See id. Accordingly, the Court will analyze Peters’ claim

under the framework of the Eighth re See id. at 582,

subjective knowledge on the part of the defendant if it shows that the excessive risk was so

obvious that the official must have known about it. See Beers-Capitol v. Whetzel, 256 F.3d

120, 133 (3d Cir. 2001) (citing Farmer, 511 U.S. at 842). The Third Circuit has found

deliberate indifference when a prison official: “(1) knows of a prisoner's need for medical

treatment but intentionally refuses to provide it; (2) delays necessary medical treatment

based on a non-medical reason; or (3) prevents a prisoner from receiving needed or

recommended medical treatment.” Rouse, 182 F.3d at 197.

The second prong of the Eighth Amendment inquiry is whether the plaintiff's medical

needs were serious. A serious medical need is “one that has been diagnosed by a

physician as requiring treatment or one that is so obvious that a lay person would easily

recognize the necessity for a doctor's attention.” Monmouth Cty. Corr. Inst. Inmates v.

Lanzaro, 834 F.2d 326, 347 (3d Cir. 1987). Not every condition is a serious medical need;

instead, the serious medical need element contemplates a condition of urgency, namely,

one that may produce death, degeneration, or extreme pain. See id.

Moreover, because only egregious acts or omissions can violate this standard, mere

medical malpractice cannot result in an Eighth Amendment violation. White v. Napoleon,

F.2d 103, 108-10 (3d Cir. 1990); Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 (1976) (“[Mledical

malpractice does not become a constitutional violation merely because the victim is a

prisoner.”). The Supreme Court has held that negligence or inadvertence alone do not rise

to the level of a constitutional violation. Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312 (1986). The

.

Supreme Court has also noted that “[llack of due care suggests no more than a failure to

measure up to the conduct of a reasonable person.” Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 332

(1986). Where a state of mind is relevant, the complaint is inadequate if it merely contains

conclusory allegations describing the requisite state of mind such as “intentionally” or

‘Tecklessly” without supporting factual allegations. Wilson, 501 U.S. 294. Additionally,

prison medical authorities are given considerable latitude in the diagnosis and treatment of

inmate patients, see Young v. Kazmerski, 266 F. App’x 191, 194 (3d Cir. 2008), and a

doctor's disagreement with the professional judgment of another doctor is not actionable

under the Eighth Amendment. See White, 897 F.2d at 108-10.

Furthermore, it is well-settled that an inmate’s dissatisfaction with a course of

medical treatment, standing alone, does not give rise to a viable Eighth Amendment claim.

See Brown v. Borough of Chambersburg, 903 F.2d 274, 278 (3d Cir. 1990) (“[A]s long as a

physician exercises professional judgment his behavior will not violate a prisoner's

constitutional rights.” Pearson v. Prison Health Servs., 850 F.3d 528, 535 (3d Cir. 2017)

(*[W]hen medical care is provided, we presume that the treatment of a prisoner is proper

absent evidence that it violates professional standards of care.”).

Peters has not set forth a plausible Eighth Amendment claim regarding inadequate

medical care. Assuming, arguendo, that Peters’ ailments presented a serious medical

need, the complaint lacks sufficient allegations that the PrimeCare Defendants were

deliberately indifferent to such conditions. Peters acknowledges that when he arrived at the

Perry County Prison, he was immediately placed in the Prison’s medical unit. Peters

presented to the Perry County Prison on Friday, March 11, 2022, and Defendant Bailey

performed a medical assessment on Monday, March 13, 2022. Peters asserts that he did

not have around-the-clock medical care and that the PrimeCare Defendants did not take

“appropriate action over a 5 day[] course.” (Doc. 1, p. 8). To the extent that Peters

believes he should have received different treatment and should have been transferred to

an outside medical center, this constitutes a “mere disagreement as to the proper medical

treatment,” and is not an actionable Eighth Amendment claim. Lanzaro, 834 F.2d at 346.

Additionally, the failure to provide twenty-four-hour access to medical care does not amount

to a constitutional violation. See Boyett v. Cty. of Wash., 282 F. App’x 667, 673 (10th Cir.

2008) (“[T]here is no per se requirement that a jail provide its inmates around-the-clock

access to a medical doctor.”). Because Peters fails to allege facts from which it can

reasonably be inferred that the PrimeCare Defendants exhibited deliberate indifference to

his medical needs, he is not entitled to relief on this claim.

B. Monell Claim against PrimeCare.

Under §1983, a private corporation contracted by a prison to provide healthcare for

inmates cannot be held liable for Eighth Amendment violations on a respondeat superior

theory. Natale, 318 F.3d at 583. Rather, pursuant to Monell, a private corporation can be

held liable for constitutional violations only if it has a custom or policy exhibiting deliberate

indifference to a prisoner's serious medical needs. See Monell, 436 U.S. 658 (subjecting

municipalities to liability for policies or customs that cause constitutional deprivations);

Natale, 318 F.3d at 584 (applying Monell to a private company providing medical services to

inmates). See also Weigher v. Prison Health Servs., 402 F. App’x 668, 669-70 (3d Cir.

2010) (nonprecedential) (noting that a private corporation providing medical service at a

state correctional facility cannot be held liable under a theory of respondeaft superior in a §

suit). Thus, to prevail on his § 1983 claims against PrimeCare, Peters must establish

that “there was a relevant [PrimeCare] policy or custom, and that the policy caused the

constitutional violation” for which he seeks relief. See Natale, 318 F.3d at 583-84. “Policy is

made when a ‘decisionmaker possess|ing] final authority to establish municipal policy with

respect to the action’ issues an official proclamation, policy, or edict.” Andrews v. City of

Phila., 895 F.2d 1469, 1480 (3d Cir. 1990) (quoting Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S.

469, 481 (1986)), superseded in part by statute, Civil Rights Act of 1991, Pub.L. No. 102-

166, 105 Stat. 1072, § 102. A course of conduct not expressly authorized by law becomes

a “custom” when the challenged “practices of state officials [are] so permanent and well

settled” as to virtually constitute law. Monell, 436 U.S. at 690. In order to establish liability,

“it is incumbent upon [Plaintiff] to show that a policymaker is responsible either for the policy

or, through acquiescence, for the custom.” Andrews, 895 F.2d at 1480 (citing Jett v. Dallas

Sch. Dist., 491 U.S. 701, 737 (1989)). The “policymaker” is the person who “has

final, unreviewable discretion to make a decision or take an action,” and who is or is not a

policymaker is determined by reference to state law. Andrews, 895 F.2d at 1481.

Here, the allegations of the complaint are scant in that Peters has not alleged an

unconstitutional policy, practice, or custom, and he has failed to identify a PrimeCare

policymaker who is responsible for either a policy or, through acquiescence, a custom, that

caused the constitutional violation for which he seeks relief. As such, the Court will dismiss

the Monell claim against PrimeCare.

C. Claim Pursuant to the Pennsylvania Constitution

Peters sets forth a cause of action for an alleged violation of Article 1 §§ 11 and 13

of the Pennsylvania Constitution. (Doc. 1, pp. 8-9). As the Third Circuit has recognized,

however, “[nlo Pennsylvania statute establishes, and no Pennsylvania court has

recognized, a private cause of action for damages under the Pennsylvania Constitution.”

Pocono Mtn. Charter Sch. v. Pocono Mtn. Sch. Dist., 442 F. App’x 681, 687 (3d Cir. 2011).

Accordingly, the Court will dismiss Peters’ claim pursuant to the Pennsylvania Constitution.

IV. Leave to Amend

When a complaint fails to present a prima facie case of liability, district courts must

generally grant leave to amend before dismissing the complaint. See Grayson v. Mayview

State Hosp., 293 F.3d 103, 108 (3d Cir. 2002); Shane v. Fauver, 213 F.3d 113, 116-17 (3d

Cir. 2000). Specifically the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has admonished that when a

complaint is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim, courts should liberally grant

leave to amend “unless such an amendment would be inequitable or futile.” Phillips, 515

F.3d at 245 (citing Alston v. Parker, 363 F.3d 229, 235 (3d Cir. 2004)). The above claims

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against PrimeCare and Nurse Bailey are factually and legally flawed; thus, the Court

concludes that granting Peters leave to amend would be futile. Moreover, Peters failed to

response to Defendants’ motion, despite being granted additional time to do so.

V. Conclusion

Based on the foregoing, the Court will grant the Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss by

PrimeCare Medical, Inc. and Shelby Bailey, LPN. (Doc. 25). A separate Order shall issue.

—)

/

1 4

obert D> Mariani

United States District Judge

Dated: May 2023

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