An appeals court has upheld a verdict against the state for a prison doctor’s failure to recognize the severity of an inmate’s spinal condition and make a prompt referral to a neurologist before the prisoner became paralyzed.
The Appellate Division, Fourth Department, said in Black v. State of New York, 14-00317, that the doctor failed to diagnose that Sergio Black was suffering from severe spinal cord stenosis after reviewing an MRI on Nov. 20, 2006. Less than a month later, and without having been seen by a specialist, Black became paralyzed from the chest down after falling in his cell at the Five Points Correctional Facility in Seneca County.
