Calhoun v. Ramsey.

U.S. Appeals Court

MEDICATION

Calhoun v. Ramsey, 408 F.3d 375 (7th Cir. 2005). A former county jail inmate brought a [section] 1983 action against a sheriff and the county's medical care contractor, alleging deliberate indifference to his medical needs. The district court entered judgment on a jury verdict in favor of the defendants and the former inmate appealed. The appeals court affirmed, finding that the inmate had to show the existence of widespread policies or practices to establish municipal liability, and that the inmate could not establish municipal liability based on a single incident. The inmate alleged that he was injured by the delay of his medication, due to the lack of a provision in the county's medical policy for advance verification of inmate prescription medications. The inmate had been sentenced to serve evenings and weekends at the county jail to satisfy a 120-day motor vehicle violation. In the days leading up to the start of his sentence he called the jail twice in an effort to obtain approval of his medication. Instead, the jail followed state jail standards that required "... medication in the possession of the detainee at admission shall be withheld until verification of its proper use is obtained and documented. This verification shall be made as soon as possible, but within the time interval specified for administration of the medication on the prescription container." (Kane County Jail, and Correctional Medical Services, Inc., Illinois)