DOVER — An inmate claiming medical malpractice after denial of treatment for a skin disorder provided no expert medical opinion to back the allegation, and his appeal was dismissed in Delaware Supreme Court last Thursday.
Alan T. Brooks, incarcerated at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center near Smyrna, contested an earlier Superior Court judgment denying his quest for ultraviolet radiation treatment for vitiligo, a condition causing splotches on skin.
“Brooks is not exempt from the requirement of providing an expert medical affidavit simply because he is an incarcerated individual,” Justice Randy J. Holland wrote in an eight-page order.
Brooks filed a complaint against medical personnel working at JTVCC between 2012 and 2015, court papers said, claiming that he developed the disease due to a lack of Oxycodone medication that lowered his immunity after open heart surgery on Oct. 18, 2012.
Also, Brooks maintained that a dermatologist prescribed six weeks of ultraviolet radiation therapy in April 2015 to manage the vitiligo.
The plaintiff filed a medical grievance with the Delaware Department of Correction treatment was denied, and a panel sided with medical personnel.
Brooks alleged that medical personnel had made fraudulent claims regarding the process.
Brooks took his complaint to Superior Court, and it was summarily dismissed since “it was both factually and legally frivolous and failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.
“The trial court interpreted Brooks’ complaint as attempting to state a medical malpractice action against the defendants.”
Supreme Court termed Brooks request for declaratory judgment as “inappropriate for several reasons.”