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Abstract: 

Strain v. Regalado, 977 F.3d 984 (10th Cir. 2020) deals with a pretrial detainee experiencing alcohol withdrawal as well as rather severe DTs. Plaintiff Strain is the guardian of Thomas B. Pratt, the detainee here, who was discharged from the Tulsa County Jail with a seizure disorder and other ailments that left him permanently disabled. He asserts that he received an unconstitutional level of care. Judge Carson, writing for a unanimous panel, finds that Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015), was not intended to apply to medical care cases. This means that this lawsuit must involve deliberate indifference to a serious medical need as opposed to the more relaxed Kingsley standard which requires that plaintiff show only an objective, reasonable man standard v. deliberate indifference. In this article, we recount the treatment facts and then analyze the panel’s rejection of Kingsley.

Keywords: Alcohol Withdrawal; Strain v. Regalado; Kingsley v. Hendrickson

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.