Wise v. Lappin, et al., No. 11-2414 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff, a federal inmate, appealed the district court's summary judgment in favor of defendants where his claims arose out of a delayed consultation for his jaw injuries which in turn delayed necessary jaw surgery. The court concluded that summary judgment was not proper as to the physician's assistant (PA) and the physician where plaintiff's painful broken jaw constituted an objectively serious medical need and the record revealed trialworthy issues as to whether the PA and the physician both knew of the serious medical need and were deliberately indifferent to plaintiff's need for prompt treatment. Accordingly, the court affirmed summary judgment as to all defendants except the PA and the physician.
Court Description: Prisoner case - prisoner civil rights. The district court erred in granting summary judgment as to a medical technician and a doctor who treated plaintiff as his painful broken jaw constituted an objectively serious medical need and the record reveals trialworthy issues as to whether the defendants both knew of the need and were deliberately indifferent to plaintiff's need for prompt corrective surgery; as to the remaining defendants, summary judgment was appropriate as there was either no evidence against them or the claims against them sounded in negligence or were based on respondeat superior.
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