Keys, Louis et al v. Litscher, Jon et al

Filing 38

ORDER that Defendants' motion to compel (dkt. 36 ) is denied insofar as the court will not compel Keys to permit access to his medical records. Plaintiff Louis Keys may have until July 3, 2020, to provide defendants either with a properly executed form consenting to disclosure of his medical records or with actual copies of all of the requested records. Signed by Magistrate Judge Stephen L. Crocker on 6/19/2020. (rks),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
LOUIS KEYS,

v.

Plaintiff,

OPINION AND ORDER
18-cv-303-wmc

GABRIEL CHINIAS, et al.,
Defendants.

Pro se plaintiff Louis Keys is proceeding against employees of Columbia Correctional
Institution (“CCI”) and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections on Eighth Amendment
and negligence claims for failing to administer the correct medication and subsequently
failing to provide proper medical treatment to remedy Keys’ resulting injuries. Before the
court is defendants’ motion to compel Keys to either (1) sign a medical release form
authorizing the release of his medical records or (2) produce those records. (Dkt. 36.)
Keys did not respond by his June 11, 2020, deadline. Although I am denying defendants’
motion because the court does not compel parties to disclose confidential medical records
in a lawsuit, I am warning Keys that a choice not to disclose the requested records in this
case likely will lead to its dismissal with prejudice.
Defendants assert that, pursuant to a legitimate discovery request, they mailed Keys
a medical records release authorization form on February 3, 2020. After Keys responded
asking defendants to restrict their request to only those records relevant to the events of
this case, defendants sent Keys a new release form limited to his records from September
2017 through January 2018. Keys has neither produced the requested records nor signed
either release.

Keys must sign a medical authorization form or produce the requested medical
records if he wants to continue litigating his claims in this lawsuit. Keys claims that
between September of 2017 and January of 2018, Columbia Correctional Institution staff
mishandled his medications three times and then failed each time to treat his resulting
injuries. Accordingly, medical records and other information about Keys’s health during
that period are directly relevant to his claims.

Because Keys’s medical records are

discoverable, I am ordering Keys either to produce all of the requested records or to return
the requested medical authorization to defendants, signed and fully completed, within 14
days of this order, namely by July 3, 2020. The court will deem a failure to meet this
deadline as a choice by Keys not to provide the requested records.
To be clear, Keys does have a choice, but this choice has consequences. Keys’s failure
to disclose the requested information likely will result in the court dismissing his claims in
this lawsuit for his failure to prosecute. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b); Ball v. City of Chicago, 2
F.3d 752, 755 (7th Cir. 1993) (dismissal for failure to prosecute appropriate once the judge
gives “due warning” that the case is subject to dismissal). It is not fair to defendants for
Keys to prosecute the claims that he has made here without giving defendants access to
the information that underlies his claims so that defendants may investigate and defend
against them. In sum, although I am denying defendants’ motion as a technical matter,
Keys must decide how he wishes to proceed.

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ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1) Defendants’ motion to compel (dkt. 36) is DENIED insofar as the court will not
compel Keys to permit access to his medical records.
2) Plaintiff Louis Keys may have until July 3, 2020, to provide defendants either
with a properly executed form consenting to disclosure of his medical records or
with actual copies of all of the requested records. If Keys declines to comply
with this order, then he faces dismissal of this lawsuit with prejudice for
failure to prosecute. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b).

Entered this 19th day of June, 2020.

BY THE COURT:
/s/
_______________________
STEPHEN L. CROCKER
Magistrate Judge

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