Bowens v. Cannon, No. 05-7625 (4th Cir. 2006)
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 05-7625 HERBERT T. BOWENS, Plaintiff - Appellant, versus AL CANNON, Charleston County Sheriff; DOCTOR PIENNING, Correct Care Solutions; NATIONAL COMMISSION OF HEALTH CARE, Defendants - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Charleston. David C. Norton, District Judge. (CA-05-2396) Submitted: March 15, 2006 Decided: April 12, 2006 Before WILKINSON, WILLIAMS, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges. Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion. Herbert T. Bowens, Appellant Pro Se. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). PER CURIAM: Herbert T. Bowens appeals the district court s order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and dismissing without prejudice his action filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000), pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B) (2000).* We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for further proceedings. Bowens alleged that defendants acted with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs and failed to protect him from an attack by another inmate. We have reviewed the record and find no reversible error in the district court s dismissal of the failure to indifference protect claim arising before or of the Bowens claims had surgery of on deliberate his hand. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of relief on these claims for the reasons stated by the district court. See Bowens v. Cannon, No. CA-05-2396 (D.S.C. Oct. 5, 2005). With regard to Bowen s claims that the medical defendants acted with deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs post-surgery, we review de novo the district court s dismissal of those claims for failure to state a claim. 330 F.3d 630, 633 (4th Cir. 2003). De Lonta v. Angelone, A court should not dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim unless after accepting all well-pleaded allegations in the plaintiff s complaint as true and * This order is a final, appealable order over which we have jurisdiction. See Chao v. Rivendell Woods, Inc., 415 F.3d 342, 344-45 (4th Cir. 2005). - 2 - drawing all reasonable factual inferences from those facts in the plaintiff s favor, it appears certain that the plaintiff cannot prove any set of facts in support of his claim entitling him to relief. Slade v. Hampton Roads Reg l Jail, 407 F.3d 243, 248 (4th Cir. 2005) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Bowens alleged that medical personnel failed to properly clean and dress the surgical wound, failed to issue the prescribed antibiotics, and caused him to miss follow-up appointments at the hospital by failing to arrange for transportation. Taking these allegations as true, we find that Bowens alleged facts sufficient to state a claim of deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. See Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 834 (1994) (discussing standard); Martinez v. Garden, 430 F.3d 1302, 1305 (10th Cir. 2005) ( Knowledge of [plaintiff s] medical condition, coupled with the alleged failure to inform him of medical appointments or to arrange transportation, may give rise to an inference that defendants acted with deliberate indifference. ); Gil v. Reed, 381 F.3d 649, 661-62 (7th Cir. 2004) (finding that defendant s unexplained refusal to dispense prescribed surgical wound site medication created to treat genuine serious issue of infection material at fact regarding defendant s state of mind). Accordingly, we vacate this portion of the district court s order and remand for further proceedings. We recognize that [d]eliberate indifference is a very high standard--a showing - 3 - of mere negligence will not meet it. 692, 695 (4th Cir. 1999). Grayson v. Peed, 195 F.3d But, without at least the aid of a response by the defendants, we cannot rule on the present record and, therefore, we express no opinion on the ultimate disposition of Bowens claims. facts and materials legal before We dispense with oral argument because the contentions are adequately the and argument court presented would not in the aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED - 4 -
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
