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Abstract: 

In this issue, we examine two appellate decisions that serve to illustrate how the courts apply the deliberate indifference standard to claims of negligent care. In Stewart v. Pennsylvania Dept. of Corrections, 2017 WL 416955, an inmate’s lawsuit over the misreading of x-rays was rejected in a decision upheld by the 3rd Circuit; although the error led to painful complications for the inmate, the court found that staff at SCI Houtzdale had provided adequate medical care. Correctional health professionals will find the case a useful example of how, while errors can and will be made, even when care is generally good as it was here, the presence of error does not in itself constitute deliberate indifference. The second case, also from Pennsylvania, exonerated prison medical staff even though a series of errors and misdiagnoses led to serious medical complications for an inmate with appendicitis. Here the courts ruled that differing opinions as to treatment do not constitute deliberate indifference.

Keywords: Deliberate Indifference Standard

Affiliations:  1: Ohio Supreme Court Library.