Prisoner Sufficiently Alleged Claim to Medical Care

Edmisten v. Werholtz, 2008 WL 2940794 (8/1/08) (unpub'd) - The 10th reverses a denial of a request for a preliminary injunction for medical care. The plaintiff had made sufficient allegations to warrant an injunction where: a doctor determined he needed immediate surgery to replace the prosthesis in his jaw ravaged by bone cancer, and prescribed pain medication, antibiotics and a special diet, while awaiting surgery by the only doctor capable of performing the surgery; the Kansas prison denied his medication, antibiotics and special diet and stalled off the surgery, including not transporting him to his surgeon, despite doctor's orders to do so, because the surgery would cost $100,000; the plaintiff suffered lots of pain, etc. and was close to losing any chance the surgery could help. The plaintiff alleged he was the victim of an informal policy to give low priority to the medical needs of inmates requiring specialized, expensive care. The plaintiff sufficiently alleged the defendants interfered with a prescribed procedure and the danger of irreparable harm. The cost to the state was not undue if the defendants were legally obligated to provide medical care that cost that much. "The public has an interest in protecting the civil rights of all persons under the Constitution."