Glover v. Carr, No. 18-3028 (7th Cir. 2020)
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Wisconsin inmate Glover sued prison medical staff and Department of Corrections officials for deliberate indifference and for violating his right to equal protection after they denied him medicine prescribed for post‐surgical erectile dysfunction, 42 U.S.C. 1983. Glover alleges that treatment of his erectile dysfunction following his prostate cancer surgery was necessary for penile rehabilitation and time-sensitive because he was at risk of suffering permanent loss of erectile function if his condition was left untreated for too long following surgery. Glover unsuccessfully moved to substitute the Department’s new medical director, Dr. Holzmacher, as a defendant. The court granted the defendants summary judgment.
The Seventh Circuit vacated. The district court abused its discretion by not allowing Glover to amend his complaint: “It is difficult to see why, under these circumstances, it would not be in the interest of justice for Glover to be able to sue the person that all agree is responsible for denying him access to Cialis.” The defendants argued that, absent precedent specifically recognizing that erectile dysfunction is a serious medical need, it would not have been clear to Holzmacher that the prison was obligated to heed the advice of Glover’s off‐site urologist and prison physician and approve a Cialis prescription; the court declined to resolve the matter of qualified immunity. The answer to the question is not so obvious that permitting Glover to bring Holzmacher into the case would necessarily constitute a futile act.
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