8th Amendment

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Tyron Petties v. Imhotep Carter et al

Case No.: 14-2674

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and POSNER, FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, KANNE, ROVNER, WILLIAMS, SYKES, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges

Focus: 8^th Amendment

Doctors knew the course of treatment were inadequate to meet appellant medical needs

“Dr. Carter’s opinion was consistent with the deposition testimony of Petties’s orthopedic specialist, Dr. Puppala, who testified that he would always immobilize a ruptured Achilles tendon, unless the injury had an open sore that needed to be addressed first. It was also consistent with the testimony of Dr. Chmell, the ankle specialist who treated Petties after Dr. Carter had left Stateville. He testified that immobilization is essential to the healing of an Achilles tendon, and that healing without immobilization is “possible but not very likely.”4 And finally, Wexford’s own protocol, which Dr. Carter testified he was responsible for implementing, stated that the primary course of treatment for an Achilles rupture included a splint. Dr. Carter also testified he was not aware of any shortage of splints at Stateville during the time that he was treating Petties. Together, these pieces of circumstantial evidence support a reasonable inference that Dr. Carter knew that failure to immobilize an Achilles rupture would impede Petties’s recovery and prolong his pain. It is certainly true that Dr. Carter’s decision not to immobilize Petties’s ankle could have been an oversight, or a fundamental misunderstanding of the proper course of treatment. Some of his testimony suggests that he believed crutches served the same purpose as a boot. But that testimony conflicts with other parts of his deposition that explained the distinct purpose of immobilization, which is not to prevent bearing weight on the injured foot, but to keep the ruptured tendon in one place. It also conflicts with the testimony of the other doctors who treated Petties. A jury could also find suspicious that Dr. Carter did not provide the boot until an outside doctor documented the importance of immobilization in writing. A reasonable inference to draw from this evidence is that Dr. Carter was aware of the need for immobilizing a ruptured tendon, but simply decided not to until he came under scrutiny. Also, a jury could reasonably conclude that Dr. Carter’s decision caused substantial harm—Petties’s affidavit stated that without a splint, he had nothing to keep his ankle from moving around, which made him feel “constant, severe pain” whenever he got up to walk, and made sleeping difficult.”

Reversed and remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.