Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long in the Central District of Illinois granted summary judgment in favor of a correctional officer and a nurse at the Jerome Combs Detention Center in Kankakee, Illinois in Bello v. Kimery, Case No. 16-CV-2153 (C.D. Ill. April 20, 2017). Plaintiff, a pre-trial detainee with mild epilepsy, had a seizure in his cell in the early morning hours on February 20, 2016. His cellmate alerted the correctional officer about the Plaintiff’s condition. The officer called his supervisor, a trained first-responder, who advised him to monitor plaintiff and make sure he could not hurt himself. The officer did so. Fifteen minutes later, Plaintiff was back in his bunk and refused any further medical attention. A nurse was informed of Plaintiff’s seizure when she arrived that morning, and went to check on Plaintiff. She offered him anti-seizure medication, and did not observe any injuries. Plaintiff refused the medication. Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging deliberate indifference to a serious medical need, in that he alleged the officer should have sent him to the hospital, that he suffered injuries during his seizure, and that the nurse should have taken him to the doctor the next morning. The District Court found that the officer responded to Plaintiff’s seizure in the appropriate manner and that his action of calling his supervisor with medical training was not deliberately indifferent to Plaintiff’s medical needs. Additionally, the nurse’s offer of medication the following day and non-observation of any injuries precluded a finding that she was deliberately indifferent to Plaintiff. The Court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants. The nurse and officer were represented by Michael Condon and Tony Fioretti.
