Richmond v. Huq

While Richmond was incarcerated in the Wayne County Jail for about six weeks, she received treatment for a burn, resulting from Richmond setting her seatbelt on fire while trying to escape the police cruiser following her arrest. Richmond contends that she received constitutionally inadequate treatment for her burn wound, which necessitated skin grafting surgery shortly after her release, and that she was unconstitutionally deprived of her psychiatric medication for over two weeks while in custody. The district court below granted the defendants summary judgment. The Sixth Circuit reversed in part. A reasonable jury could find that one doctor was or should have been aware of Richmond’s serious need for psychiatric medication, as evidenced by a nurse’s notation, and that she failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that Richmond received her medication. There is evidence that psychiatric social workers knew or had reason to know that Richmond had serious psychiatric needs that required treatment; that there was a risk that she would begin experiencing symptoms of depression and bipolar disorder days before she could expect to receive any medication to treat those ailments; and that they disregarded that risk. There was also evidence that certain nurses and medical assistants disregarded Richmond’s medical needs. View "Richmond v. Huq" on Justia Law