Hamilton v. Mead

Fact Issues Persist as to Eighth Amendment Deliberate Medical Indifference Claim

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MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER I. Introduction Plaintiff Lonnie Lee Hamilton (hereinafter “plaintiff”), as administrator of the estate of Lonnie Lamont Hamilton (hereinafter “Hamilton”), commenced this civil rights action against defendants Joseph Mead and Alfred Zeina in the New York State Supreme Court, Bronx County. (Compl., Dkt. No. 1, Attach. 1.) Defendants subsequently removed the action to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on the basis of federal question jurisdiction. (Dkt. No. 1.) Shortly thereafter, defendants filed a motion to change venue, which was granted, and the action was transferred to this District. (Dkt. Nos. 13, 27.) Now pending is defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment. (Dkt. No. 48.) For the reasons that follow, the motion is denied. II. Background¹ Hamilton was an inmate incarcerated at Marcy Correctional Facility (hereinafter “Marcy C.F.”), where he was serving an indeterminate sentence of two-to-six years for robbery. (Defs.’ Statement of Material Facts (SMF)

1-2, Dkt. No. 48, Attach. 1.) Hamilton, who had previously stated that he wanted to “hurt himself,” was considered an Office of Mental Health (OMH) Level 2 inmate, “which describes an individual who needs or may need psychiatric treatment for a major mental disorder and requires housing in a facility with full time OMH staff.”² (Dkt. No. 51 at 4.) On March 15, 2016, he was found “attempting to tie a sheet around his neck,” and was placed on “1:1 watch by OMH staff.” (Id.) However, Hamilton was removed from that watch the next day, and his prescriptions for Prozac and Haldol were discontinued. (Id.) On March 18, 2016, at approximately 11:24 A.M., while Mead was conducting an “observational round” of Marcy C.F.’s Special Housing Unit (SHU), Mead observed Hamilton “hanging from a ceiling grate by a ligature made from a bed sheet tied around his neck.” (Defs.’ SMF

Hamilton v. Mead

Fact Issues Persist as to Eighth Amendment Deliberate Medical Indifference Claim

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