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December 31, 2020
On Tuesday, an appellate panel concluded that two medical professionals who treated a Washington State inmate could not be held liable for civil rights abuses because they are shielded by an immunity doctrine. In its 45-page opinion, the court explained that the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility and the two medical staff members appealed from the district court’s denial of their motions for summary judgment, arguing that the court incorrectly decided threshold questions of jurisdiction and qualified immunity.
The case arose from the treatment of the plaintiff, Martin Crowson, who became an inmate at the correctional facility in June 2014. Shortly after, he began suffering from symptoms of toxic metabolic encephalopathy. Nurse Michael Johnson and Dr. Judd LaRowe, two of the medical personnel responsible for Crowson’s care, wrongly determined that Mr. Crowson was experiencing drug or alcohol withdrawal. After a week of medi