Terrell, Michael v. Richardson, Reed et al

Filing 19

ORDER that Plaintiff Michael Terrell may have until September 14, 2018, to supplement his allegations against defendants Baker and Becher. Signed by District Judge James D. Peterson on 8/27/2018. (jef),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

MICHAEL D. TERRELL,
Plaintiff,
v.
ORDER
PAUL LYNCH, C/O CHAUSE, L. BAKER,
JOAN M. HANNULA, BECHER,
MATT ZIMMERMAN, ANDREW B. ROSS,
and JOSEPH R. DEMARTINI,

18-cv-130-jdp

Defendants.
Plaintiff Michael Terrell, a former state of Wisconsin prisoner, alleges that while he was
incarcerated at the Stanley Correctional Institution, he was forced to perform labor despite
being disabled, and after he harmed himself he received inadequate medical care that ultimately
resulted in his kneecap being surgically removed without his approval. I previously granted him
leave to proceed on Eighth Amendment or due process claims against most of the defendants
named in the complaint. But I concluded that his allegations against two defendants were too
vague to support claims.
Terrell alleged that defendant Health Services Unit supervisors L. Baker and Becher
“delayed adequate treatment by sending [Terrell] to a specialist.” Dkt. 1, at 4. I stated that it
was unclear what Terrell meant by that allegation, because although undue delay could violate
the Eighth Amendment, sending a patient to a specialist usually shows that the defendant is
not acting with deliberate indifference to the patient’s medical need. Dkt. 9, at 6. I gave Terrell
a chance to amend his complaint by supplementing his allegations against Baker and Becher
to better explain how these defendants violated his rights. Id.

Terrell has responded to the order by submitting a copy of the court’s order screening
his complaint, along with more than 100 pages of documents, mostly medical records and
prison health service requests. See Dkt. 11. He does not submit a document titled as a proposed
supplement to his complaint. But I cannot sift through a stack of documents to figure out what
his claims against Baker and Becher might be; he has to tell me what those claims are by filing
a supplement to the complaint. I will give him one final chance to do so. He should draft his
supplement as if he were telling a story to people who know nothing about his situation. He
should simply state what Baker and Becher did that he believes violated his rights. More
specifically, he should explain what he means when he said that they delayed adequate
treatment by sending him to a specialist.
If Terrell fails to submit a supplement or he files another inadequate response, I will
dismiss Baker and Becher from the lawsuit.

ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff Michael Terrell may have until September 14, 2018, to
supplement his allegations against defendants Baker and Becher.
Entered August 27, 2018.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
________________________________________
JAMES D. PETERSON
District Judge

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