Martinez v. United States

RICHARD MARTINEZ, Plaintiff, v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ROBERT BEAUDOUIN, M.D., MANDEEP SINGH, P.A., YOON KANG, P.A., WARDEN MCC, THE GEO GROUP, INC., THE BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER, PHILLIP MCPHEARSON, M.D., and JOHN/JANE DOES Nos. 1-10, Defendants.

No. 20-CV-7275 (VEC)

United States District Court, S.D. New York

September 16, 2021

OPINION AND ORDER

VALERIE CAPRONI, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.

Between July 2018 and November 2019, Plaintiff was in federal custody - first at Queens Detention Facility (“QDF”), a private facility operated by Defendant The GEO Group, Inc. (“GEO Group”), and later at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (“MCC”), a U.S. Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) facility - while awaiting trial on a criminal charge. Over the course of those 16 or so months, Plaintiff repeatedly complained about, inter alia, blood in his urine, painful urination, and back leg, and chest pain. Although Plaintiff received some care from the medical staff at QDF and MCC, Plaintiff was not seen by a urologist or oncologist for months, despite MCC medical personnel issuing multiple referrals. Unfortunately, by the time Plaintiff did see appropriate specialists in November 2019, it was too late; Plaintiff was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer and found to be paraplegic as a result of tumors having spread to his spine. According to Plaintiff Defendants are liable for providing substandard medical care and failing to diagnose and treat his serious medical ailments before they had progressed to such a devastating state.

Plaintiff has sued those who were involved in his medical care while in pretrial detention. Plaintiff has sued three members of MCC's medical staff, Dr. Robert Beaudouin, P.A. Mandeep Singh, and P.A. Yoon Kang (collectively the “Individual Federal Defendants, ” and with the United States, the “Federal Defendants”), pursuant to Bivens v Six Unknown Named Agents of Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), for cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment and for deprivation of his substantive due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.^[1] Plaintiff has also sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq., for medical malpractice, negligence, and negligent hiring, supervision, and retention. Finally, Plaintiff brings a state law medical malpractice claim against the non-federal Defendants involved in Plaintiff's care.^[2]

Federal Defendants moved to dismiss Plaintiff's Bivens and FTCA claims pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). Notice of Mot., Dkt. 65. For the following reasons, Federal Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.

BACKGROUND^[3]

On or around July 26, 2018, Plaintiff, who at the time was 49 years old, was arrested. Compl. ¶¶ 41-42, Dkt. 1. Between the date of his arrest and August or September 2018, Plaintiff was held as a pretrial detainee at QDF, a private facility managed by the GEO Group. Id. ¶¶ 41, 46. While incarcerated at QDF, Plaintiff complained to the medical staff about blood in his urine (the medical term for which is hematuria) and painful, frequent urination; a urine sample revealed red or orange colored urine with a foul odor. Id. ¶ 43. QDF medical staff suspected that Plaintiff had a urinary tract infection (“UTI”); although no urine culture was performed, they placed Plaintiff on antibiotics. Id. ¶¶ 44-45.

In late August or early September 2018, BOP transferred Plaintiff to MCC. Id. ¶¶ 46-47. Shortly after arriving at MCC, on September 11, 2018, Plaintiff had a urine sample collected for analysis; the urinalysis yielded abnormal results. Id. ¶ 47. The results of the urinalysis were co-signed by Dr. Beaudouin on May 3, 2019, with no treatment or additional testing occurring during the intervening eight months. Id. On May 31, 2019, Plaintiff was evaluated by Dr. Beaudouin for hematuria, which Plaintiff reported having started nine months prior but having worsened in the prior two weeks. Id. ¶ 48. Dr. Beaudouin determined that Plaintiff may have a UTI, and he prescribed Plaintiff antibiotics. Id. Dr. Beaudouin also requested a computerized tomography (“CT”) scan of Plaintiff's abdomen and pelvis and issued a referral for a urology evaluation, both of which were scheduled to occur within a month. Id. ¶¶ 48-49.

Nearly two months later, on July 24, 2019, Plaintiff was taken to Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center for a CT scan, the results of which indicated that Plaintiff had multiple enlarged lymph nodes and an enlarged prostate; combined with Plaintiff's history of hematuria, the Kingsbrook medical staff warned of malignancy and recommended that Plaintiff undergo a prostate-specific antigen (“PSA”) test. Id. ¶ 51. Plaintiff's PSA test indicated a significantly elevated PSA level, and, on August 4, 2019, at which point Plaintiff still had not seen a urologist, Dr. Beaudouin created an administrative note stating that he would rewrite the urology referral and would request a prostate biopsy to further evaluate Plaintiff for prostate cancer. Id. ¶¶ 52- 53.

On August 28, 2019, following a second PSA test that confirmed Plaintiff's significantly elevated PSA level (Plaintiff's reading was then more than 50 times the normal range), Dr. Beaudouin referred Plaintiff to the emergency room for evaluation to rule out prostate cancer and requested that Plaintiff be evaluated by a urologist. Id. ¶¶ 54-55. On August 30, 2019, Plaintiff was taken to the Brooklyn Hospital Center, where he underwent a urinalysis but did not see a urologist or have a prostate biopsy performed; he was discharged with instructions to follow up with a urologist. Id. ¶ 56.

On September 21, 2019, Plaintiff, who reported continued hematuria and pain, was seen by P.A. Kang. Id. ¶ 60. On that same date, Plaintiff underwent additional urinalysis - which again yielded abnormal results, including elevated white and red blood cell counts - and Dr. Beaudouin again referred Plaintiff to a urologist. Id. ¶ 60. Despite the fact that the urology referral was approved on September 26, 2019, Plaintiff was not taken to a urologist. Id. On October 18, 2019, Dr. Beaudouin entered an administrative note stating that Plaintiff had been scheduled for an appointment at the urology clinic the previous day but that the correctional services department had not taken him to the appointment. Id. ¶ 62.

In late October 2019, Plaintiff was seen by P.A. Singh twice for a variety of complaints, including sharp chest pain and persistent, sharp lower back pain radiating to his groin that had been ongoing for five weeks but was worsening. Id. ¶¶ 64-65. P.A. Singh referred Plaintiff to cardiology for an echocardiogram and prescribed him Tylenol. Id. On October 29, 2019, Plaintiff saw Dr. Beaudouin for back pain, hematuria, painful urination, and nocturia, or waking in the night to urinate. Id. ¶ 66. Dr. Beaudouin prescribed Tamsulosin - commonly known by the brand name Flomax - for “disorder of the prostate” and Tylenol, and he instructed Plaintiff to follow up with sick call as needed; at that time, Plaintiff's medical records indicated there were pending urology and cardiology appointments. Id. ¶¶ 52-53.

Plaintiff's health issues continued into November 2019. In addition to Plaintiff's consultations with the MCC medical staff, between September 13, 2019, and November 4, 2019, Plaintiff made approximately nine sick call requests to MCC medical staff, in which he repeatedly complained of hematuria, pain in his back, leg, shoulder, and chest. See Id. ¶¶ 58, 59, 61, 63, 67, 68. On November 7, 2019, Plaintiff reported to P.A. Singh intense chest pain, leg pain and numbness, and continued hematuria. Id. ¶ 69. P.A. Singh responded to Plaintiff's complaints by stating that he would not die from urinating blood given that Plaintiff had been urinating blood for seven months; P.A. Singh also informed Plaintiff that he was not in the midst of a medical emergency, which would require Plaintiff to have a heart attack or to have stopped breathing. Id. ¶ 69. On November 10, 2019, Plaintiff reported to P.A. Singh that he could barely stand, was in severe pain, and had been experiencing urinary incontinence; P.A. Singh again informed Plaintiff that his condition was not an emergency and that he had already spoken to the doctor about Plaintiff's case. Id. ¶ 71. Between November 10-12, 2019, Plaintiff could not get out of bed, a fact of which medical staff and MCC guards were aware. Id. ¶ 72.

On November 12, 2019, Plaintiff saw Dr. Beaudouin, who noted that Plaintiff complained of numbness and weakness in his lower body. Id. ¶ 73. At Dr. Beaudouin's request, Plaintiff was transferred to a hospital; an MRI of his thoracic spine revealed a large spinal tumor and spinal cord compression. Id. ¶¶ 73-74. Plaintiff was transferred to Bellevue Hospital for emergency decompression surgery, which was performed on November 13, 2019. Id. ¶¶ 74-75. After surgery, Plaintiff was determined to be paraplegic and diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer. Id. ¶ 76. Plaintiff has undergone significant medical treatment, but his condition is permanent and fatal. See Id. ¶¶ 76-78.

Plaintiff first filed an administrative claim with BOP on December 16, 2019. Id. ¶ 6; see also Dkt. 67-1. Plaintiff filed a second administrative claim with BOP on May 5, 2020, which Plaintiff contends operated as a supplement, providing BOP with additional information on his claims and their value. Compl. ¶ 7; see also Dkt. 67-2.

DISCUSSION

I. Legal Standard on a Motion to Dismiss

A. Rule 12(b)(1)

“Determining the existence of subject matter jurisdiction is a threshold inquiry, ” pursuant to which the court may properly dismiss a claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction “when the district court...