Dale Stein v. G. Woods

FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION FEB 2 2015
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
DALE R. STEIN, No. 13-16968
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 3:11-cv-01243-JSW
v.
MEMORANDUM*
G. WOODS, DDS; et al.,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of California
Jeffrey S. White, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted January 21, 2015**
Before: CANBY, GOULD, and N.R. SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Dale R. Stein, a California state prisoner, appeals pro se from the district
court’s summary judgment in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging deliberate
indifference to his serious dental needs. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1291. We review de novo, Toguchi v. Chung, 391 F.3d 1051, 1056 (9th Cir.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
2004), and we affirm.
The district court properly granted summary judgment because Stein failed
to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether defendants were
deliberately indifferent to his dental problems and associated pain. See id. at 1057-
58 (a prison official acts with deliberate indifference only if he or she knows of and
disregards an excessive risk to the prisoner’s health and safety; negligence and a
mere difference in medical opinion are insufficient); Jackson v. McIntosh, 90 F.3d
330, 332 (9th Cir. 1996) (to establish that a difference of opinion amounted to
deliberate indifference, a prisoner “must show that the course of treatment the
doctors chose was medically unacceptable under the circumstances” and “that they
chose this course in conscious disregard of an excessive risk to [the prisoner’s]
health”); see also Peralta v. Dillard, 744 F.3d 1076, 1086-88 (9th Cir. 2014) (en
banc) (official whose only role was reviewing internal appeal does not act with
deliberate indifference absent knowledge of a substantial risk of serious harm).
AFFIRMED.
2 13-16968