Summary
In Shorty v. Liddell, 356 Fed.Appx. 769 (5th Cir. 2009) an inmate alleged that medical staff did not provide adequate treatment for headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea, and vomiting.
Summary of this case from Robinson v. WhittingtonOpinion
No. 08-61117 Summary Calendar.
December 18, 2009.
Eddie Shorty, Parchman, MS, pro se.
Charles Baron Irvin, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Mississippi, Saundra Brown Strong, Phelps Dunbar, Jackson, MS, Vardaman Kimball Smith, III, Bryan Nelson, Hattiesburg, MS, for Defendants-Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, USDC No. 4:07-CV-207.
Before GARZA, CLEMENT, and OWEN, Circuit Judges.
Eddie Shorty, pro se, appeals the district court's dismissal of his § 1983 deliberate indifference claim against Dr. Kentrell Liddell and an unnamed nurse, and the court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Dr. Thomas Lehman. Shorty complains that he suffers from headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea, and vomiting. He alleged that medical personnel at his correctional facility did not provide adequate treatment for these problems, and that their failure to do so constituted deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs in violation of his rights under the Eighth Amendment.
Shorty's medical records show that he has a history of psychiatric problems in addition to the chronic symptoms from which he suffers, and that the symptoms predate his incarceration. The records also show that since his incarceration in 1999, he has been treated more than fifty times for his health complaints. Prison doctors prescribed numerous medications, which Shorty has not always been compliant in taking. Prison doctors also gave Shorty several diagnostic tests, including a brain scan. The etiology of Shorty's symptoms is unknown and may be related to his psychiatric problems; a prescription for an antidepressant appears to have lessened, at least for a time, his chronic headaches.
The district court concluded that the undisputed facts showed that Shorty did not have a cognizable deliberate indifference claim. It granted summary judgment in favor of Dr. Lehman, who had treated Shorty, and dismissed the claims against Dr. Liddell, who was not alleged to have had any personal involvement in Shorty's treatment. The court also dismissed, for failure to state a claim, Shorty's allegations against the nurse who dispenses his medication but who was not named in the complaint.
We affirm for the reasons stated by the district court in its well-reasoned and thorough opinion of December 1, 2008, 2008 WL 5111003. AFFIEMED.