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Gubanc v. Warren12/16/1998
f the allegedly improper dosage was the cause of plaintiffs illness, he has not demonstrated that that dosage was given to him by a medical staff aware of the risk that the dosage posed to his health. Although plaintiff has claimed that he told the staff that he could not take the dosage they required, that fact alone does not demonstrate deliberate indifference to his medical needs.
Plaintiff has also claimed that, despite an order of an attending physician that plaintiff be taken to the hospital, the sheriffs deputies nonetheless obtained his release, knowing him to be seriously ill. Plaintiff failed to demonstrate, however, that a physician had ordered plaintiff to be taken to the hospital or that the sheriffs deputies knew and disregarded an excessive risk to his health. The most that plaintiff pointed to was a note made by a treating physician, whicscontained neither a time nor a date, in which that physician noted that defendant was "admitted DKA." That note does not constitute an order to the officers to transport plaintiff to the hospital. Nor did it give those officers notice of plaintiff s condition. Defendants claimed in their summary judgment motion that it was standard procedure for a trial court to release sick prisoners who were imprisoned on misdemeanor charges and who did not pose a threat to the community. Plaintiff failed to show that defendants acted with deliberate indifference, that is, that they obtained his release knowing of and disregarding an excessive risk to his health or safety. Accordingly, he failed to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact regarding his Eighth Amendment claims. Plaintiff's first assignment of error is overruled.
Plaintiff's second assignment of error is that the trial court incorrectly granted defendants summary judgment on his state law negligence claims. He has argued that the medical staff and sheriffs deputies breached their duty of care when they failed to provide for his medical needs. He has asserted that "the deliberate indifference demonstrated on the part of the Summit County Sheriffs Office is sufficient to overcome the sovereign immunity granted to political subdivisions for simple negligence." Further, he has argued that the deputies assumed a duty of care when they transported him to the hospital. That duty, plaintiff has asserted, was "willfully and negligently" breached when the deputies "deposited" him on the curb outside the hospital.
Plaintiff's position is that he showed that the sheriffs deputies acted with deliberate indifference and thereby demonstrated that they also acted with "malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner," which he must show to overcome the bar of sovereign immunity. See Cook v. Cincinnati (1995), 103 Ohio App.3d 80, 90-91, 658 N.E.2d 814, 820 (construing R.C. 2744.03). As noted above, however, plaintiff did not show that either the medical staff or the sheriffs deputies recognized the serious risk to his health and disregarded that risk. He was ill, but he failed to demonstrate that the medical staff or deputies recognized the extent of his illness. Consequently, they did not act with deliberate indifference. This court further concludes that they did not act with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner. In addition, the deputies did not disregard a known risk to plaintiff's health when they transported him to the hospital. Indeed, the deputies provided a ride to the hospital because they did not think that plaintiff would seek medical treatment on his own. Plaintiff, therefore, failed to demonstrate that the deputies acted in a manner that could overcome the immunity granted a political subdivision. Furthermore, even if pla
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