Opinion
C. A. 22-135
02-07-2023
WARREN EASLEY, Plaintiff v. CRNP BLOOM, et al., Defendants.
Richard A. Lanzillo Magistrate Judge
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Susan Paradise Baxter District Judge
L INTRODUCTION
Plaintiff Warren Easley, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale, Pennsylvania (“SCI-Houtzdale”), filed this pro se civil rights action on August 23, 2022, against Adam Bloom (“Bloom”), a Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner at SCI-Houtzdale. Plaintiff subsequently filed an amended complaint on September 16, 2022 [ECF No. 4], adding three additional Defendants: Ingrid Renberg, Chief Psychiatrist at the Central Office of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections; Michele Ivicic, Deputy Superintendent at SCI-Houtzdale; and Sean Bresnahan, licensed psychologist manager at SCI-Houtzdale. This matter was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo, for report and recommendation in accordance with the Magistrates Act, 28 U.S.C. §636(b)(1), and Rules 72.1.3 and 72.1.4 of the Local Rules for Magistrates.
In conjunction with the filing of his amended complaint, Plaintiff filed a motion for temporary restraining order [ECF No. 14], alleging that prison officials are denying him necessary mental health treatment in retaliation for his use of the inmate grievance system. As relief, Plaintiff seeks an Order directing Defendants to provide him with an “appropriate mental health course of proper and just mental health treatment." (Id. at p. 1).
An evidentiary hearing on Plaintiffs motion was held, by video, before Judge Lanzillo on November 29, 2022, at which Plaintiff provided testimony stating that he has been denied mental health treatment at SCI-Houtzdale and that his medications were discontinued by Defendants after he filed a grievance complaining about his lack of treatment. In response, Defendants submitted Plaintiffs' medical records for the Court's in camera review. According to these records, Plaintiffs medications were discontinued by Bloom and the medical staff at SCI-Houtzdale after they had determined that the medications were ineffective and unnecessary.
In view of Plaintiffs medical records, Judge Lanzillo issued a Report and Recommendation ("R&R") on January 13, 2023, recommending that Plaintiffs motion for temporary restraining order be denied because Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits. [ECF No. 26]. Plaintiff has since filed timely objections to the R&R [ECF No. 35]; however, the objections merely reiterate Plaintiffs complaint that he was denied mental health review, which was adequately addressed by the Magistrate Judge.
Thus, after de nova review of Plaintiffs motion and other documents in this case, together with the report and recommendation and objections thereto, the following order is entered:
AND NOW, this 7th day of February, 2023;
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiffs motion for temporary restraining order [ECF No. 14] is DENIED, without prejudice. The report and recommendation of Magistrate Judge Lanzillo, issued January 13, 2023 [ECF No. 26], is adopted as the opinion of the court.