Hollihan v. Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

MEMORANDUM

Christopher C. Conner, Chief Judge

The putative class action at bar challenges the confidential treatment regime of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (“Department”) colloquially known as the “One Good Eye” policy. Culled to its essence, this administrative policy denies cataract surgery to inmates who retain a threshold modicum of visual acuity in one eye, notwithstanding physician recommendations to the contrary. The court finds that such draconian medical treatment, as unearthed in the complaint, may transgress the Eighth Amendment.

Plaintiff Richard Hollihan (“Hollihan”)…