Mark Bowers v. David A. Mullen, MD, ERDCC

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 16-3926
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Mark Bowers
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellant
v.
David A. Mullen, MD, ERDCC; John Williams, MD, MECC; Karl Hardman, RN
BN Health Service Administrator
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendants
T. Bredeman, Medical Director of Corizon
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellee
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis
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Submitted: June 28, 2017
Filed: July 6, 2017
[Unpublished]
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Before LOKEN, ARNOLD, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.

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Former Missouri prisoner Mark Bowers appeals following the district court’s1
adverse grant of summary judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action claiming
deliberate indifference to his medical needs. After de novo review, see Beaulieu v.
Ludeman, 690 F.3d 1017, 1024 (8th Cir. 2012), we affirm. Specifically, we find that
neither the denial of a requested orthopedic evaluation, nor the delay in reviewing a
subsequent request for evaluation, constituted deliberate indifference to Bowers’s
serious medical needs. See Holden v. Hirner, 663 F.3d 336, 342 (8th Cir. 2011);
Meuir v. Greene Cty. Jail Emps., 487 F.3d 1115, 1118–19 (8th Cir. 2007) (physicians
are free to exercise independent medical judgment); Vaughan v. Lacey, 49 F.3d 1344,
1346 (8th Cir. 1995) (mere disagreement, even between physicians, over proper
course of treatment is not actionable under Eighth Amendment).
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment. See 8th Cir. R. 47B.
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The Honorable John A. Ross, United States District Judge for the Eastern1
District of Missouri.
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