May 6, 2026·3:24-cv-08023-JAT--JFM·Unpublished·By Aisha Johnson
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a prisoner's civil rights lawsuit alleging deliberate indifference to serious medical needs. The panel concluded the plaintiff failed to allege facts showing defendants disregarded an excessive risk to his health.
Gerald Vaughn Gwen, an Arizona state prisoner, appealed pro se from a district court judgment dismissing his action under Section nineteen hundred eighty-three of Title forty-two of the United States Code. He alleged that defendants were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs regarding COVID nineteen and a cervical spine condition.
The court’s reasoning
The panel reviewed the dismissal de novo and found the district court properly dismissed the action. The court held that officials act with deliberate indifference only if they know of and disregard an excessive risk to an inmate’s health. The record did not support Gwen’s contentions that the district court was biased or violated his constitutional rights.
What it means going forward
The decision affirms the lower court’s dismissal, leaving the prisoner’s claims unresolved and reinforcing the high bar for proving deliberate indifference in medical care cases.
