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LARRY CAMPBELL,
in his Official Capacity as Sheriff Leon County Florida,
Defendant-Counter
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Claimant-Appellee.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Florida
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(August 22, 2012)
Before MARTIN, ANDERSON and EDMONDSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
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his underlying condition and was the treatment prescribed earlier for him by a
doctor.
The Defendants did not ignore Plaintiffs Hepatitis C condition; instead,
they chose an alternative treatment -- lactulose -- to address elevated blood
ammonia levels which are a common complication of Hepatitis C. Cf. Brown, 387
F.3d at 1351 (complete failure to treat Hepatitis C condition amounted to
deliberate indifference). Plaintiff assumes that interferon and ribavirin
represented a superior treatment. But interferon and ribavirin have potentially
serious side effects; prescription of those drugs is highly individualized to the
patient and depends on many factors. See Bender v. Regier, 385 F.3d 1133, 1135
(8th Cir. 2004). Perhaps -- we do not say -- treatment by lactulose instead of the
treatment preferred by Plaintiff constituted negligence, but negligence fails to state
a cognizable deliberate indifference claim. Plaintiffs disagreement with the
course of treatment employed fails to support an inference that Defendants acted
with disregard for the harm posed to Plaintiff by Hepatitis C.
We conclude, as did the district court, that the allegations in Plaintiffs
complaint are merely consistent with liability; the allegations stop[] short of the
line between possibility and plausibility of entitlement to relief. Ashcroft v.
Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009), quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. Twombly, 127
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S.Ct. 1955, 1966 (2007). Plaintiff shows no error in the district courts grant of
Defendants motion to dismiss.
AFFIRMED.