Pounds v. Myers
Pounds v. Myers
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
Michael A. Pounds, a Tennessee state prisoner, moves for the appointment of counsel and appeals a district court order dismissing his civil rights complaint, filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, for failure to state a claim. This case has been referred to a panel of the court pursuant to Rule 34(j)(l), Rules of the Sixth Circuit. Upon examination, this panel unanimously agrees that oral argument is not needed. Fed. R.App. P. 34(a).
Pounds filed this action against the warden, associate warden, hospital administrator, staff physician, and nurse at his place of incarceration, plus the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections. He alleged that defendants were denying him adequate medical care in violation of the Eighth Amendment. Specifically, the complaint alleged that Pounds was suffering from a number of symptoms, but was told by the nurse at sick call on March 6, 2002, that he could only have sick call for one condition at a time, and was ordered to leave the clinic after arguing with the nurse about this alleged policy. When he returned on March 7, he was told that his sick call privileges were suspended, and he was sent back to his cell. The nurse saw him on March 8, diagnosed shingles, and gave him pain medication and hydrocortisone. On the eleventh, he also received steroids. On the fourteenth, he was apparently removed from the clinic after comments to a nurse about erections were interpreted as inappropriate. He was also seen by a nurse on March 19 and April 4, but was never seen by the physician. Pounds filed a grievance concerning his experiences, which resulted in a clarification issued from the commissioner’s office to the prison clinic that prisoners could present more than one complaint at sick call and that sick call was a right, not a privilege that could be suspended. Pounds requested monetary relief in his complaint, an injunction prohibiting retaliation against him, and the same relief that he had already received through the grievance process.
The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), concluding that the warden, associate warden, hospital administrator, and commissioner could not be held hable on the basis of respondeat superior, that no specific claim was alleged against the staff physician, and that Pounds had not alleged any serious medical consequences resulting from the two-day delay in receiving treatment from the nurse. Pounds reasserts his claims on appeal.
For the reasons stated by the district court, the dismissal of this complaint for failure to state a claim is affirmed. Rule 34G’)(2)(C), Rules of the Sixth Circuit. The motion for counsel is denied.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Michael A. POUNDS v. Kevin MYERS, Warden Linda Rochell, Associate Warden John Crunk, Hospital Administrator Robert Coble, Staff Physician Cliff Harvill Donal Campbell, Commissioner
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published