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King v. Correctional Medical Services4/15/2005
On October 20, 2000, Christopher King, an inmate incarcerated at Kilby Correctional Facility, died at Baptist East Hospital as a result of an infection of the brain. King had been transferred to the hospital on October 19, 2000, after becoming non-responsive in the Kilby infirmary. In October 2002, King's sister, Nicole King, sued the Alabama Department of Corrections ("ADOC"); Mike Haley, who at that time was the commissioner of ADOC, in his individual capacity; and Correctional Medical Services, Inc. ("CMS"), the medical provider that administered ADOC's inmate health program; she also named several fictitiously named parties in her complaint. Ms. King alleged that under both state law and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 the defendants had negligently treated King, resulting in his death; that they had been deliberately indifferent to King's serious medical needs, thereby violating his constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; and that the policies of the various institutions that King had been incarcerated in between May 2000 and October 2000 exhibited deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of inmates, such as King, to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees; it sought no declaratory or injunctive relief.
CMS moved for a summary judgment, arguing that the CMS physicians who treated King, Dr. Benjamin Glover and Dr. Jean Darbouze, had at all times acted consistently with the applicable standard of care and, therefore, that they could not be liable for medical malpractice under the Alabama Medical Liability Act, Ala. Code 1975, § 6-5-480 et seq. CMS attached the affidavits of both Dr. Glover and Dr. Darbouze and King's medical records in support of the motion. CMS did not specifically raise any issue regarding Ms. King's deliberate-indifference claim under § 1983. ADOC and Haley (referred to collectively at times as "the correctional defendants") moved for a summary judgment as well, in which they argued that they were entitled to sovereign immunity pursuant to Art. I, § 14, Ala. Const. 1901; that Haley was entitled to State-agent immunity as originally described in Ex parte Cranman, 792 So. 2d 392 (Ala. 2000), and adopted by a majority of our supreme court in Ex parte Butts, 775 So. 2d 173 (Ala. 2000); that the complaint failed "to state a claim upon which a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action can be maintained"; and that Ms. King could not establish that Haley had been deliberately indifferent to King's serious medical needs.
In opposition to CMS's summary-judgment motion, Ms. King filed a response that included excerpts of the deposition testimony of her medical expert, Dr. Robert B. Greifinger, in which he opined that both Dr. Glover's and Dr. Darbouze's evaluation and treatment of King fell below the applicable standard of care. Ms. King also argued that she had stated a deliberate-indifference claim against CMS and that CMS's summary-judgment motion failed to shift to her the burden of producing substantial evidence concerning that claim. CMS then filed a motion challenging whether Dr. Greifinger was a "similarly situated health care provider" as required by Ala. Code 1975, § 6-5-548(b). The trial court held a transcribed hearing at which the majority of the arguments centered on whether Dr. Greifinger qualified as a "similarly situated health care provider."
The trial court entered a full summary judgment in favor of all defendants, specifically concluding that Dr. Greifinger was not qualified as a "similarly situated health care provider" under § 6-5-548(b) and that ADOC and Haley were entitled to § 14 immunity
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