Greenway v. S. Health Partners, Inc.

KENNETH GREENWAY, As Surviving Spouse of Tammy Sue Greenwayas administrator of the estate of Tammy Sue Greenway, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. SOUTHERN HEALTH PARTNERS, INC., NURSE ALYSSA ARMENTI,DEPUTY CHRISTOPHER A. BOYER, SERGEANT KENNETH LANGSTON,SERGEANT JASON MUSE, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 20-11147

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

September 15, 2020

[DO NOT PUBLISH]

Non-Argument Calendar

D.C. Docket No. 1:17-cv-05420-MLB

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Before NEWSOM, BRANCH, and LUCK, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

This case arises from the tragic suicide of Tammy Greenway while in custody at the Banks County Jail. Her husband, Kenneth Greenway, brought section 1983 deliberate indifference claims against the officer that arrested the Greenways, Tammy's jailers, the County, the Sheriff, and her medical providers and a state-law negligence claim against the medical providers. The district court granted summary judgment for all defendants, and Kenneth now appeals. Because we conclude, like the district court, that there was no genuine dispute that the defendants did not have knowledge of a strong likelihood that Tammy was a suicide risk or that the County and the medical providers did not cause Tammy's death, we affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Kenneth and Tammy Greenway had a volatile, on-again off-again marriage. They had discussed divorce and had romantic relationships outside of the marriage. Around 2008, Tammy began to have paranoid delusions and became violent towards Kenneth. That year, she attempted suicide by overdosing on pills. Between 2008 and 2015, Tammy suffered from intermittent bouts of mental illness and drug addiction. On December 19, 2015, Tammy kicked in the door to Kenneth's bedroom and attacked him. Tammy was arrested and went to jail for a few days. While in jail, Tammy did not attempt suicide or make any threats of self-harm.

On January 23, 2016, Tammy and Kenneth had another violent domestic incident, and a relative called the police. Deputy Christopher Boyer and Sergeant Jim Clay responded.¹ The officers interviewed the Greenways separately and had them fill out witness statements. Tammy wrote that Kenneth attacked her unprovoked and that she did not want further trouble. For his part, Kenneth wrote that Tammy attacked him and threatened to kill him. Deputy Boyer signed off on Tammy's witness statement, and neither witness statement mentioned self-harm or suicide. While discussing the incident with Deputy Boyer, Kenneth told him thatTammy was bipolar. The officers conferred and arrested both Tammy and Kenneth for aggravated assault.

In her interactions with the officers, Tammy did not threaten to harm herself. When Deputy Boyer told her she was going to be arrested, she did not protest or argue with him. Tammy appeared "fine" to Deputy Boyer. After the officers arrested both Greenways, Deputy Boyer transported Kenneth to the Banks County Jail, and Sergeant Clay drove Tammy. After transferring Kenneth to the jail, Deputy Boyer had no further involvement with the Greenways.

Sergeants Kenneth Langston and Sharon Chapman booked Kenneth at the jail. Kenneth told Sergeant Langston that Tammy was suicidal, had attempted suicide previously, and needed to be watched. Sergeant Langston and Sergeant Chapman also booked Tammy. Sergeant Chapman did an initial screening of Tammy. She recorded that Tammy appeared calm and cooperative, was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and did not show signs of trauma. Sergeant Chapman then asked Tammy a series of questions, including whether she had a history of psychiatric treatment, whether she had ever had thoughts of harming herself, and whether she currently had thoughts of harming herself. Tammy responded "no" to each question. But she reported that she was under a doctor's care and needed various medications. Sergeant Chapman testified that Tammy appeared upset at being arrested but becamecheerful after that. While incarcerated, Sergeant Chapman had a "good rapport" with Tammy, discussed Tammy's new boyfriend with her, and they shared a laugh.

That same day, Sergeant Langston asked Tammy more in-depth questions. That screening included twelve questions regarding suicide risk. Tammy responded that she had not experienced marital separation, death of a loved one, loss of business, arrest of a loved one, divorce, or major financial loss; she was not a first-time offender and did not have unusual home-family problems; and she had never been in a mental institution or under psychiatric care, had never attempted suicide, and was not currently contemplating suicide. Sergeant Langston recorded that he did not believe Tammy was a suicide risk. He also documented that Tammy had issues with thyroid disease, panic attacks, depression, and hormones. Sergeant Langston testified that Tammy did not say or do anything out of the ordinary.

The next day, while both Greenways remained in jail, Kenneth told one of the jailers, Sergeant Jason Muse, that Tammy was suicidal and needed to be placed on suicide watch. Kenneth repeatedly tapped on the glass window of his cell to get Sergeant Muse's attention. Sergeant Muse thought Kenneth was having an anxiety attack and eventually came in with Nurse Alyssa Armenti, who worked at the jail as an employee of Southern Health Partners, Inc., to give Kenneth anti-anxiety medication. Kenneth also told Nurse Armenti that Tammy had attempted suicide in the past and needed to be on suicide watch. Sergeant Muse then placed Kenneth onsuicide watch and told others he thought Kenneth was "crazy." That same day, Beauchamp called Sergeant Muse and told him that Tammy was suicidal.

On the morning of January 25, 2016, Nurse Armenti conducted a medical screening of Tammy. Tammy reported that she had never considered or attempted suicide. Nurse Armenti similarly observed that Tammy did not exhibit any signs suggesting a risk of suicide, assault, or abnormal behavior in January 2016. Nurse Armenti reported that Tammy was "sweet." Tammy identified her medical conditions as relating to her thyroid and to depression. She had been prescribed a thyroid medicine and an anti-depressant but told Nurse Armenti that she had been without her medications for two weeks and did not bring them with her to the jail. That day, after a consult with the jail's doctor, Nurse Armenti administered Tammy her thyroid medicine and faxed her pharmacy to request her medication records. Tammy did not ask to take an anti-depressant, and Nurse Armenti did not provide one to her, because Tammy had not been taking the medication regularly.

Early in the morning of January 26, 2016, Kenneth made bail. As he left, he and Beauchamp told Sergeant Chapman that Tammy was suicidal. Later that morning, Nurse Armenti went with Sergeant Muse to give Tammy her next dose of thyroid medication. Tammy asked Sergeant Muse if she could have another blanket, but he told her he did not have one to give to her. In response, Tammy refused totake her medicine and threw it on the ground. Sergeant Muse then placed Tammy in lockdown in her cell.

While locked down, Tammy screamed and banged on her cell door on and off from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. In the jail's command tower, Officer Tim Brooks observed the banging but saw through the cell's window that Tammy was not trying to hurt herself. Officer Brooks noticed that Tammy became quiet after about an hour. At 10:30 am, he talked to Sergeant Muse, who instructed him to have someone check on Tammy. Officer Brooks asked another inmate to check on Tammy; the inmate looked through Tammy's cell window and screamed. Officer Brooks radioed Sergeant Muse, who reported to Tammy's cell. Nurse Armenti also responded to the call. They found Tammy hanging from a bedsheet. Nurse Armenti found that Tammy still had a faint pulse. Sergeant Muse cut Tammy down and helped Nurse Armenti with CPR. Another officer called an ambulance. The ambulance took Tammy to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Kenneth, on behalf of Tammy's estate, sued Deputy Boyer, Sergeant Langston, Sergeant Chapman, Sergeant Muse, Officer Brooks, jail administrator Captain Scott Rice, Nurse Armenti, Southern Health Partners, Banks County, and Sheriff Carlton Speed under 42 U.S.C. section 1983, alleging deliberate indifference claims under the Fourteenth Amendment. He also brought a Georgia-law medicalmalpractice claim against Nurse Armenti and Southern Health Partners. All defendants moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a grant of summary judgment, applying the same legal standards as the district court. Snow ex rel. Snow v. City of Citronelle, 420 F.3d 1262, 1268 (11th Cir. 2005). "The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). We review a district court's decision to keep supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. section 1367(c) for abuse of discretion. Lucero v. Trosch, 121 F.3d 591, 598 (11th Cir. 1997).

DISCUSSION

On appeal, Kenneth argues that: (1) genuine issues of material fact precluded summary judgment for the officers and Nurse Armenti on his deliberate indifference claims; (2) genuine issues of material fact existed regarding whether the County and Sheriff had municipal liability for policies that led to inadequate medical care for Tammy; (3) the district court erroneously exercised supplemental jurisdiction over the state-law medical malpractice claim after dismissing the federal section 1983 claims; and (4) genuine issues of material fact foreclosed summary judgment on his state-law medical malpractice claim.Deliberate indifference claims

"[P]retrial detainees . . . plainly have a Fourteenth Amendment due process right to receive medical treatment for illness and injuries,...