By: Derek Hawkins//December 1, 2015//
By: Derek Hawkins//December 1, 2015//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case No.: 14-2272
Case Name: Lester Dobbey v. Jacqueline Mitchell-Lawshea & Michael Dangerfield
Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.
Pertinent Practice Areas: Prisoner Treatment – Deliberate Indifference – Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Failure to treat prisoner’s infected tooth after knowledge of infection amounted to deliberate indifference, warrants reversal of summary judgment.
“In granting summary judgment in favor of the defend‐ ants, the district judge failed to appreciate the gravity of a tooth abscess or attach sufficient weight to the slack response of prison staff to Dobbey’s medical problem. A tooth abscess is not a simple toothache. It is a bacterial infection of the root of the tooth, and it can spread to the adjacent gum and beyond—way beyond. It is often painful and can be dangerous. Loss of the tooth is common, though can some‐ times be prevented by prompt detection and treatment of the abscess. Dobbey does not connect his abdominal woes to the abscess, but he may well not have known that stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting are common consequences of a tooth abscess and so may have been caused or aggravated by his abscess.”
Reversed and Remanded