Reck v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc., No. 19-2440 (7th Cir. 2022)
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Reck, an Illinois Menard Correctional Center inmate, filed suit, 42 U.S.C. 1983 against a prison physician (Dr. Trost), the Health Care Unit Administrator (Walls), a prison nurse (Smith), and Wexford Health Sources, which provides medical services to inmates under a contract. Reck developed a “painful perianal abscess with recurrent bloody discharge” because of his Crohn’s disease, which previously had been in remission. His condition caused him considerable pain and he alleges he submitted multiple sick call requests, most of which got no response. The defendants deny having received most of those requests. He suffered several burst abscesses.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The court found no indication that Dr. Trost ignored the gravity of Reck’s condition or “slow-walked” his treatment plan; neither Walls nor Smith was deliberately indifferent. Dr. Trost might have been negligent but a mere failure to attend to one’s responsibilities, without more, does not reach the level of deliberate indifference the Constitution prohibits. There is no evidence that Wexford, or any of its employees, had responsibility for the design, monitoring, or maintenance of the system of transmitting a prisoner’s sick call request. The court rejected challenges based on staffing.
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