Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
No. 10-1965
SANDY J. BATTISTA,
Plaintiff, Appellee,
v.
Defendants, Appellants.
__________
Defendants.
Before
*
The Hon. David H. Souter, Associate Justice (Ret.) of the
Supreme Court of the United States, sitting by designation.
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537-38.
female hormones and access to female garb. Her early demands were
(2006), as well as state law, including Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 12,
her.
1
In response to Battista's initial requests, a Department
psychiatric consultant stated in 1997 that the name change and
desired treatments were "bizarre at best, and psychotic at worst"
and recommended various medical and psychological testing, as well
as therapy. The consultant also considered Battista's requests to
be "elective procedures" equivalent to "tummy tucks and
liposuctions."
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review. The September 2009 review again found the safety risk too
that Treatment Center residents were sex offenders and that the
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and ready for hormonal treatment, that the past treatment for her
GID "falls below any reasonable standard of care," and that with a
Inc., 604 F.3d 24, 29 n.5 (1st Cir. 2010) (likelihood of success,
public interest).
2
The modified preliminary injunction now on appeal was issued
on August 23, 2010, and requires "[w]ithin seven (7) business days
of the entry of this Order, the DOC shall provide hormone therapy
to Battista in accordance with the recommendation of Dr. Levine,
Dr. Zakai, and Ruth Khowais, Psy.D. on June 19, 2009, and the
prescription by endocrinologist Dr. Mohammed Saad dated August 4,
2009 and August 14, 2009."
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which the district court now has under consideration; but hormone
which can be recast and summarized under two headings: first, that
suffer severe harm without it, and (implicitly) that such therapy
concedes that Battista suffers from GID and needs treatment and
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be sorted out.3
review, factual findings are reviewed for clear error, and judgment
Cir. 2005).
their charge. Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825, 837 (1994); Estelle
v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104-05 (1976). This choice of tests was
3
In the district court, Battista asserted but then abandoned
earlier damage claims and focused her suit on forward-looking
injunctive relief. Had this appeal involved individual liability
for damages and qualified immunity, a different outcome could
easily have been possible as to such claims.
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4
The decisions are not uniform. Compare Ketchum v. Marshall,
No. 90-F-1627, 963 F.2d 382, 1992 WL 111209, at *2 (10th Cir. 1992)
(unpublished table decision) (using deliberate indifference test
for medical care for the civilly committed without mentioning
Youngberg), with Patten v. Nichols, 274 F.3d 829, 833-42 (4th Cir.
2001) (applying professional judgment test, not deliberate
indifference), with Sain v. Wood, 512 F.3d 886, 894-95 (7th Cir.
2008) (treating both standards as equivalent to deliberate
indifference), and Ambrose v. Puckett, 198 F. App'x 537, 539-40
(7th Cir. 2006) (treating both standards as equivalent to
professional judgment).
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that far apart and, to the extent that the Youngberg phrasing
Both the Farmer and Youngberg tests leave ample room for
margin of protection, the Court also stated that there can be more
than one reasonable judgment, and that the choice in such cases is
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be safely allowed. The term "punish" was not Murphy's own but was
deposition:
could reasonably find that there had been "denial," "delay" and
for treatment, and for ten years, health professionals have been
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balancing judgments are within the realm of reason and made in good
of Mass. Dep't of Corr., No. 07-40323-JLT (D. Mass. Dec. 18, 2009);
their good faith; Battista, to show that providing her the therapy
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Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 823 (1988)), and Battista is quite
of the risk of the hormone therapy, but not all of it. And, while
unwilling to tolerate.
Medina, 553 F.3d 19, 22 (1st Cir. 2009). Yet this would be a much
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the district judge was far from anxious to grant the relief sought.
the defendants in this instance. The details are laid out in his
oral opinion and the record contains support for his conclusion.
went back and forth apparently looking for an out. It may take
mutilation attempt.
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and 2008; there were really 41, not 68, reported incidents at the
Treatment Center.
5
Finally faced with a decision by the district court to
require therapy, defendants now say they have offered to create a
modified protective custody arrangement that would provide Battista
and others with both protection from other residents and "access to
treatment, work, educational programs, and recreation." This may
on investigation be less than the quotation suggests but that is
another matter.
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court saw it, and it had a reasonable basis for that judgment.
They also say that the risk of physical assault will be increased
1992), and we note only that none of them appear promising even if
Affirmed.
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