Verdicts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has reversed a district court's summary dismissal of a prison inmate's lawsuit, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, that claimed his doctor violated his Eighth Amendment rights. The suit claimed that the doctor showed deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's medical needs; the Seventh Circuit found that the plaintiff had produced enough evidence to possibly convince a jury that the doctor knew the treatment provided was inadequate. Petties v. Carter, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15524 (7th Cir., 7/23/16).

Plaintiff Tyrone Petties, a prisoner at Stateville Correctional Facility, suffered a debilitating rupture in his left Achilles tendon in January 2012 while climbing a staircase. This was the second such injury, as Petties had injured his right Achilles tendon two years earlier. As explained by the Seventh Circuit in the case: “An Achilles tendon rupture is a tear in the tendon which impedes the ability of the foot to point downward, causing pain and limiting mobility. Walking around on a ruptured tendon exacerbates the injury, increasing the gap between the torn edges of a tendon because of the way that muscles contract in the foot and calf. Immobilizing the injured foot prevents stretching of the tear and allows the torn edges of the tendon to sit together, and scar tissue to form, rejoining the edges. When an Achilles rupture is not immobilized, the stretching apart of the torn tendon edges when the injured foot hits the ground causes severe pain and weakness.”