John Colwell v. Robert Bannister

BACKGROUND

Because this case was resolved at summary judgment, we present the facts in the light most favorable to Colwell, the non-moving party. See Snow v. McDaniel, 681 F.3d 978, 982 (9th Cir. 2012), overruled in part on other grounds by Peralta v. Dillard, 744 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 2014) (en banc).

Colwell is a 67-year-old man serving multiple criminal sentences, including life without the possibility of parole. He did not have eye problems when he was incarcerated in 1991, but he subsequently developed cataracts in both eyes and underwent cataract-removal surgery on his left eye in 2001. By October 2001, a cataract had developed in Colwell’s right eye that rendered him totally blind in that eye by 2002. That cataract has never been treated and is the medical condition at issue in this case.

According to R. Bruce Bannister, D.O., the NDOC Medical Director, a cataract is “cloudiness (opacity) of the lens of the eye” which “does no damage to the eye and can be removed at any time.” Dr. Bannister, who is not an optometrist or ophthalmologist, declared that a cataract does not cause pain, require urgent attention, or lead to permanent vision loss. He declared further that a delay…

Dissent by Judge BYBEE.

OPINION

Plaintiff John Colwell, an inmate in the Nevada Department of Corrections, is blind in one eye due to a cataract. It is undisputed that his treating doctors recommended cataract surgery and that the surgery would restore his vision. However, the surgery was denied by NDOC supervisory medical personnel because of the NDOC’s “one eye policy” — cataract surgery is refused if an inmate can manage to function in prison with one eye.

We hold today, as numerous other courts considering the question have, that blindness in one eye caused by a cataract is a serious medical condition. We also hold that the blanket, categorical denial of medically indicated surgery solely on the basis of an administrative policy that “one eye is good enough for prison inmates” is the paradigm of deliberate indifference. We reverse the grant of summary judgment in favor of the prison officials and remand for trial.

BACKGROUND

Because this case was resolved at summary judgment, we present the facts in the light most favorable to Colwell, the non-moving party. See Snow v. McDaniel, 681 F.3d 978, 982 (9th Cir.2012), overruled in part on other grounds by Peralta v. Dillard,…

dissenting:

Since 2002, John Colwell has been blind in his right eye as a result of a cataract. Prison doctors recommended that his condition be corrected by surgery, a request the Nevada Department' of Corrections (“NDOC”) denied in 2003. For the next five years, from 2004 to 2009, Colwell refused additional medical treatment by failing to show up for his annual' physical. Not until 2010 did Colwell file grievances over the State’s refusal to provide him with cataract surgery.

Colwell is one of the 20.5 million Americans over the age of 40 who suffer from cataracts. 1 Like many others who have cataracts, he is in no pain and in no danger of suffering permanent loss of vision. In the nine years after he developed the cataract, Colwell worked in prison industries sewing mattresses, doing yard work, training dogs, and serving in the culinary unit. He routinely participates in religious activities, plays cards, attends a computer class, exercises, and watches television; he is also a “voracious reader.” His only complaint relative -to the blindness in his right eye is that, -since he developed the cataract in 2002, he ran his hand through a sewing machine (twice), gashed his head…