Philip Douglas Shields v. Dr. E. P. Kunkel

Appellant, Philip Shields, brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1964) for alleged medical mistreatment by a prison doctor. The district court granted the defendant physician’s motion for summary judgment, and Shields appeals.

Appellant, an inmate of a California state prison, alleged that he had injured his back in 1964 during a prison softball game. Some months later, the pain became severe enough to prompt him to seek treatment at the prison hospital. There the defendant prescribed medicine for appellant without examination. Repeated visits led to repeated prescriptions until August of…