23-b-2 Courts Defer to Prison Health Officials' Medical Judgment

• Library: A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

23-B-2. Courts Defer to Prison Health Officials' Medical Judgment

It can be difficult to win a deliberate indifference claim when the prisoner and the prison officials have different opinions about what medical treatment is best for the prisoner. For example, a prison doctor might give a prisoner X medication for his medical condition, but the prisoner believes Y medication is better. As long as both X and Y medications are approved for treating the prisoner's disease, the prisoner will probably not win in court because the court will defer to (respect) the prison doctor's professional medical judgment that X was best for the prisoner. Even if you have your own outside doctor who says something different from the prison doctor, prison officials may rely upon their own doctor's judgment.³²

A difference in opinion over medical treatment, or even an error in medical judgment, is not likely to win a case.³³ But that does not mean that...