A.H., et al. Plaintiffs-Appellants
v.
St. Louis County, Missouri, et al. Defendants-Appellees
Submitted: January 9, 2018
Appeals from United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Missouri - St. Louis.
Before
LOKEN, BEAM, and KELLY, Circuit Judges.
LOKEN,
Circuit Judge.
While
confined at the St. Louis County Justice Center (the Jail),
Jereme Hartwig committed suicide by hanging himself with a
bed sheet in his cell. Hartwig's three children and his
mother (Plaintiffs) filed an action against St. Louis County;
Dr. Wendy Magnoli, the Jail's clinical psychologist;
corrections officer Lauren Abate; and Herbert Bernsen,
Director of the St. Louis County Department of Justice
Services. Plaintiffs asserted claims of Fourteenth Amendment
violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; wrongful death under
Missouri law, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.080; and violations
of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C.
§§ 12101, et seq., and the Rehabilitation
Act (RA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 701, et seq. The
district court[1]dismissed the ADA and RA claims for lack of
standing and subsequently denied Plaintiffs' untimely
motion for leave to amend. Plaintiffs then filed a second
action against St. Louis County, asserting the ADA and RA
claims. The district court granted summary judgment
dismissing Plaintiffs' Fourteenth Amendment and wrongful
death claims in the first action. The district
court[2] then dismissed the ADA and RA claims in
the second action. Plaintiffs appeal these orders. We affirm.
I.
Background
A.
Hartwig
was arrested on a probation violation and confined at the
Jail on November 1, 2012. A nurse performed the initial
medical screening when Hartwig arrived; she recorded his
"chief complaints" were asthma and depression, for
which he had received treatment, and "patient denies
suicide" and use of alcohol and drugs. The next day, a
different nurse added a "Past Medical" note to
Hartwig's file: "Hx of Suicide Attempt by Hanging,
received treatment from St. John's [Hospital]." A
week later, a third nurse examined Hartwig and reported he
"denies current or past suicidal ideations or
attempts."
On
December 11, Hartwig saw a nurse practitioner for an asthma
follow up. She reported no suicidal ideation or planning but
referred him to the Jail's mental health services because
of his previous suicide attempt. On January 14, 2013, Hartwig
saw psychiatrist Sadashiv Parwatikar. Dr. Parwatikar noted a
normal affect and that Hartwig did not display or report
psychotic features, was well groomed, and denied suicidal
ideation, intent, or plan. Dr. Parwatikar noted Hartwig had
received medication for depression when he had trouble
adjusting to incarceration, had a history of substance abuse,
and was facing charges for failure to pay child support.
On
January 28, Hartwig was visited by Savannah Cobb, the mother
of his child, who told him she was finished with their
relationship. Upset, Hartwig hit himself in the head with a
phone receiver, inflicting a head wound. Later that day, he
told a physician's assistant who treated the injury and a
nurse that he hit his head accidentally. Based on Cobb's
report, staff concluded he had injured himself and confined
Hartwig in the Jail's infirmary. He was "visibly
upset" with infirmary confinement, said he was
"just frustrated, " and insisted he was "not
suicidal." The following morning, he saw an infirmary
nurse and signed a release for medical information from St.
John's and another hospital that treated two earlier
suicide episodes.[3] Hartwig asked to see a "psych, "
denied suicidal ideations, and said he acted out of anger at
his girlfriend.
That
day, Hartwig had his only contact with defendant Magnoli, a
clinical psychologist working for St. Louis County. Dr.
Magnoli reviewed Hartwig's medical chart and interviewed
him at the infirmary. Based on the chart and the interview,
Dr. Magnoli concluded Hartwig "appears to present a low
risk of harm to self and others at this time." She
placed him on "precautionary status" because of his
prior suicide attempts, discharged him from the infirmary,
and referred him to a social worker for follow up.
At that
time, St. Louis County's Jail Suicide Prevention and
Response Policy (the Policy), classified potentially suicidal
inmates. High risk and medium risk inmates were confined in
the infirmary. High risk inmates must be observed every five
to ten minutes and may not have bed sheets. Medium risk
inmates must be observed every fifteen minutes; they may have
security blankets if they keep their heads and necks exposed.
Precautionary status inmates, the lowest risk classification,
were housed in the general population. They must have a
cellmate, but the cellmate need not be with the precautionary
status inmate at all times. Corrections officers made hourly
"key tour" checks of precautionary status inmates
during the first two shifts each day, and every forty minutes
overnight.
After
Dr. Magnoli's interview, Hartwig returned to general
population and was housed with a cellmate. On February 5,
defendant Abate was the corrections officer on duty in
Hartwig's fifth floor housing area. She knew Hartwig was
on precautionary status and had injured himself with the
phone receiver. She conducted the hourly checks required by
the Policy. Abate observed Hartwig making a phone call and at
dinner. During the 7:25 p.m. check, inmates were permitted to
be out of their cells for "day room" time. In her
deposition, Abate did not "specifically recall
noticing" Hartwig during her checks; a subsequent
affidavit averred that she noted Hartwig alone in his cell
during the 7:25 p.m. check. About fifty minutes later, Abate
unlocked Hartwig's cell to let his cellmate enter. The
cellmate told Abate that Hartwig was hanging in the cell.
Abate radioed for assistance, jail staff attempted to revive
Hartwig, and he was transported to the hospital, where he
died six days later.
As
Director of the St. Louis County Department of Justice
Services, defendant Bernsen oversaw the operations of the
Jail. In the five years prior to Hartwig's suicide, there
had been two suicides in which inmates in a segregation area
hung themselves with bed sheets. Neither had been identified
as suicidal or placed on suicide precaution. In response, the
Jail made physical modifications to the eighth floor
segregation area and the infirmary to eliminate bed sheet
"anchors" those inmates used for their suicides.
Hartwig was the first inmate on precautionary status to
commit suicide since the Jail opened in 1998. After his
suicide, the Policy ...