Estate of Prasad v. Cnty. of Sutter

958 F.Supp.2d 1101

ESTATE OF Nathan PRASAD, deceased, by and through Mary PRASAD; Mary Prasad; T.P., a minor; and A.P., a minor, Plaintiffs,

v.COUNTY OF SUTTER; J. Paul Parker, Sutter County Sheriff's Department Sheriff; David Samson, Sutter County Jail Division Commander; Norman Bidwell, Sutter County Jail Corrections Lieutenant; Lou Anne Cummings, Sutter County Health Officer; Amerjit Bhattal, Sutter County Assistant Director of Human Services—Health Division; Brent Garbett, Sutter County Jail Nurse Program Manager; Doris Brown, Sutter County Jail Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner; Melody Young, Sutter County Jail Licensed Vocational Nurse; Kimberly Weiss, Sutter County Jail Licensed Vocational Nurse; Gurkirat Bhangu, Sutter County Jail Licensed Vocational Nurse; Christina Stohlman, Sutter County Jail Correctional Officer; Lester Eaton, Sutter County Jail Correctional Officer; Miguel Aguilar, Sutter County Jail Deputy Officer; Olga Tahara, Sutter County Jail Deputy Officer; Rosa Diaz, Sutter County Jail Deputy Officer; Eric Crawford, Sutter County Jail Deputy Officer; Baljinder Rai, Sutter County Jail Deputy Officer; Shane Dickson, Sutter County Jail Deputy Officer; Unknown Jail Employee I; Fremont–Rideout Health Group; Michael Fraters, D.O., Defendants.

No. 2:12–cv–00592–TLN–GGH.

United States District Court, E.D. California.

July 30, 2013.

Aaron Joseph Fischer, Michael Bien, Kathryn Grzenczyk Mantoan, Lori Rifkin, Ernest Galvan, Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiffs.

John Robert Whitefleet, Porter Scott, APC, Sacramento, CA, Kathleen J. Williams, Williams and Associates, Sacramento, CA, Robert Harry Zimmerman, Schuering Zimmerman & Doyle, LLP, Sacramento, CA, for Defendants.

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTIONS TO DISMISS AND STRIKE SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT

TROY L. NUNLEY, District Judge.

Defendants County of Sutter, J. Paul Parker, David Samson, Norman Bidwell, Lou Anne Cummings, Amerjit Bhattal, Brent Garbett, Doris Brown, Melody Young, Kimberly Weiss, Gurkirat Bhangu, Christina Stohlman, Lester Eaton, Miguel Aguilar, Olga Tahara, Rosa Diaz, Eric Crawford, Baljinder Rai, Shane Dickson, (collectively the “Sutter Defendants”), Michael Fraters, M.D., and Fremont–Rideout Health Group ¹ (“Rideout”) move to dismiss Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 12(b)(6). Fraters and Rideout also move to strike portions of Plaintiffs' complaint under Rule 12(f). Plaintiffs oppose Defendants' motions.

I. FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS

Plaintiffs allege the following in their Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”). On January 21, 2011, Nathan Prasad was booked into Sutter County Jail (“Jail”) on minor parole-related charges. (SAC ¶¶ 1, 44.) While in Jail custody for the next week, Prasad experienced multiple organ failure, bronchopneumonia, severe sepsis, cyanosis, chills, fever, radiating bruising, swelling, and excruciating pain. ( Id. ¶¶ 46, 56, 61, 73, 75.) Prasad's condition was caused by a spreading bacterial infection that could have been treated with a course of antibiotics. ( Id. ¶ 75.) Prasad was not provided with necessary medical care, however, and he died from this infection hours after he was transported from the Jail to Rideout. ( Id. ¶¶ 75, 78.) Prasad was thirty years old when he died. ( Id. ¶ 6.)

Prasad initially contracted an antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection a year before this while in Jail custody. ( Id. ¶ 43.) Jail officials and employees knew that the Jail had a longstanding and trenchant problem with contagious bacterial infections, and medical staff at that time documented Prasad's recurrent Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (“MRSA”) infections. ( Id. ¶ 43.) When Prasad was rebooked at the Jail in January 2011, County officials—including Deputies Aguilar, Tahara, Diaz, Crawford, Rai, and Dickson; Correctional Officers Stohlman and Eaton; Vocational Nurses Young, Weiss, and Bhangu; Nurse Practitioner Brown; and Health Officer Cummings—reviewed documentation of Prasad's history of mental illness and recurrent MRSA infections. ( Id. ¶¶ 43, 54.)

Soon after his arrival at the Jail, Prasad reported to Jail staff that he was experiencing significant pain in his lower extremities. ( Id. ¶ 46.) He was also displaying bruising on his legs. ( Id. ¶ 3.) After several days of reported and documented medical concerns, on January 26, Brown evaluated Prasad, and following consultation with Cummings, referred Prasad to the Emergency Department at Rideout. ( Id. ¶¶ 48, 50.) By contract, Rideout was the sole facility to which Jail inmates were transported to receive emergency medical care. ( Id. ¶ 2.) Because of this contract and the significant and ongoing coordination between Rideout and the Jail, ( id. ¶ 34), Rideout and its staff knew that the Jail failed to provide sufficient around-the-clock access to medical care and could not supply the access to emergency medical treatment necessary for individuals with serious medical needs. ( Id. ¶¶ 2, 51, 52.)

At the Jail, Cummings, Assistant Human Services Director Bhattal, and Nurse Program Manager Garbett authorized and implemented a policy whereby Jail medical staff were available only from 4:00 a.m. to midnight. ( Id. ¶ 82.) This policy was maintained even though Sheriff Parker, Jail Commander Samson, Jail Lieutenant Bidwell, Cummings, Bhattal, and Garbett were on notice from prior documented reports that medical staff should be available at the Jail seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. ( Id. ¶¶ 82, 85.) Despite the lack of 24–hour medical staff and the consequent danger to inmates with emergency medical needs, Parker, Samson, and Bidwell created and enforced a policy whereby only medical staff were responsible for obtaining medical care for inmates. ( Id. ¶¶ 74, 83.) The County, Cummings, Garbett, and Bhattal also failed to consistently transmit critical medical information about Jail inmates to inmates' health care providers. ( Id. ¶¶ 49, 81.)

During his January 26 examination, information about Prasad's clinically significant history of recurrent MRSA infections was not shared with Rideout or Dr. Fraters, Prasad's Emergency Department treating physician. ( Id. ¶ 49.) Had this information been provided, it could have signaled the need for a simple blood test that would have identified Prasad's advancing infection and enabled prompt, life-saving antibiotic treatment. ( Id. ¶ 49.) Instead, Fraters discharged Prasad. ( Id. ¶ 50.) Fraters knew that Prasad was exhibiting signs of a serious and life-threatening condition and would need access to emergency medical treatment if his symptoms worsened or new symptoms developed. ( Id. ¶ 50.) Prasad's safe discharge to the Jail depended on a capacity for emergency medical response that Fraters and Rideout both knew did not exist there. ( Id. ¶¶ 34, 35.) Fraters discharged Prasad with orders that if Prasad's symptoms worsened or new symptoms developed, he was to be returned to the Emergency Department immediately. ( Id. ¶ 50.)

When Prasad returned to the Jail from his short Emergency Department admission, Jail staff—including Bidwell, Cummings, Brown, Young, Weiss, Bhangu, Stohlman, Eaton, Aguilar, Tahara, Diaz, Crawford, Rai, and Dickson—were all made aware of Prasad's discharge instructions ordering that he be taken to the Emergency Department immediately if his symptoms worsened or new symptoms developed. ( Id. ¶¶ 53, 54.) Nonetheless, on multiple occasions over the next two days, these Defendants observed Prasad's serious and deteriorating medical conditions, but did not comply with the discharge instructions or secure Prasad timely or adequate medical care. ( Id. ¶¶ 46, 60.)

On the evening of January 26, Weiss documented that Prasad was suffering from uncontrollable pain and spoke to Brown about it. ( Id. ¶ 56.) Despite the discharge instructions, Prasad was neither evaluated later that night nor returned to the Emergency Department. ( Id. ¶ 56.) From January 26 to January 28, Prasad stated aloud repeatedly that he was in extreme pain and having trouble breathing. ( Id. ¶ 57.) He reported to Brown, Young, Weiss, Bhangu, Aguilar, Tahara, Diaz, Crawford, Rai, and Dickson that he thought he was going to die unless he received immediate medical attention. ( Id. ¶ 57, 104f.) He completed and submitted at least one written request for medical treatment, relaying that he was suffering “extreme pain” and required “emergency” medical attention. ( Id. ¶ 47.)

Observing Prasad's worsening condition, several fellow inmates notified Jail staff, including Young, Weiss, Bhangu, Aguilar, Rai, and Dickson, of Prasad's condition. ( Id. ¶ 58.) Jail staff responded that Prasad “was faking his pain and other symptoms and that he and the other inmates needed to ‘get over it.’ ” ( Id. ¶ 58.) Attempting to help Prasad, fellow inmates collected blood Prasad had coughed up in an empty milk carton and showed it to Young and Rai, along with Brown and Dickson. ( Id. ¶ 59, 104j.) Neither Young nor Rai evaluated Prasad or provided medical treatment for him. ( Id. ¶ 60.)

At 9:00 a.m. on January 27, Brown documented Prasad's dangerous vital signs, recording his abnormally high pulse rate, precipitous drop in blood pressure, low grade fever, marked dehydration, and spreading bruising through his midsection. ( Id. ¶¶ 3, 61.) Brown was aware of Prasad's rapidly worsening condition and need for immediate treatment, but only prescribed Prasad an additional pain killer. ( Id. ¶ 61.)

During the January 27 evening medication pass, Prasad's serious illness, intense distress and need for immediate emergency medical care were evident. ( Id. ¶ 62.) Vocational Nurse Bhangu observed Prasad's dire condition, but failed to document Prasad's symptoms, provide for his treatment, or secure any emergency medical care. ( Id. ¶ 62.) Aguilar witnessed Prasad's condition and was told by Prasad and other inmates that Prasad required immediate...