Andre Floyd v. J. Dang

MEMORANDUM

Andre Floyd appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Defendants in his suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging deliberate indifference to his medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment. We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Lemire v. California Dep’t of Corr. & Rehab., 726 F.3d 1062, 1074 (9th Cir.2013). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Floyd first contends that the decision of doctors Dang, Cantwell, and Hasadsri not to test Floyd for Hepatitis C between 2001 and 2004 was deliberate indifference in view of four identified risk factors: Floyd’s race, the prevalence of Hepatitis C in the California State Prisons at that time, Floyd’s history as an intravenous drug user, and a blood test, done for unrelated reasons, that showed elevated levels of liver enzymes in Floyd’s blood. Each of these factors is correlated to a degree with Hepatitis C. Floyd argues that the doctors’ failure to act in response to a known medical risk constituted deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. See Helling v. McKinney, 509 U.S. 25 , 113 S.Ct. 2475 , 125 L.Ed.2d 22 (1993) (holding that second-hand…