Leon Barnes v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.

── Leon Barnes v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc. ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Date: June 01, 2026 Category: General In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-2080 LEON BARNES, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. WEXFORD HEALTH SOURCES, INC., EVARISTO P. AGUINALDO, JR., and ESTATE OF SALEH OBAISI Defendants-Appellees. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 17-cv-8959 — Franklin U. Valderrama, Judge. ____________________ ARGUED APRIL 9, 2025 — DECIDED JUNE 1, 2026 ____________________ Before EASTERBROOK, JACKSON-AKIWUMI, and PRYOR, Cir- cuit Judges. PRYOR, Circuit Judge. Leon Barnes, an inmate in the cus- tody of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), suf- fered from internal prolapsed hemorrhoids during his time at one of the state’s prison facilities. After receiving a 2 No. 24-2080 hemorrhoidectomy, Barnes launched this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Wexford Health Sources, Inc. (Wexford), the Illinois Department of Corrections’s contracted medical provider, Doctor Evaristo Aguinaldo, M.D., and the Inde- pendent Executor of the Estate of Doctor Saleh Obaisi, M.D. (collectively Defendants). 1 Barnes contends Defendants vio- lated his Eighth Amendment rights because they were delib- erately indifferent to his serious medical condition. The dis- trict court granted summary judgment to Defendants, hold- ing Barnes failed to submit sufficient evidence for a jury to find in his favor. Barnes appeals, arguing the district court erred in granting summary judgment to Defendants. In his view, the actions, or inactions, of Dr. Aguinaldo and Dr. Obaisi delayed his pre- ferred care—receiving surgery for his hemorrhoids. He also alleges that Wexford’s collegial review and referral processes aided in the delays by the doctors. We disagree and affirm. I. BACKGROUND A. Factual Background Barnes is a prisoner who has been a resident inmate throughout the Illinois Prison system since 2005. During the relevant time of the events underlying his lawsuit, Barnes was housed at Stateville Correctional Center (Stateville) from April 6, 2016, to July 25, 2018, and was then transferred to Hill Correctional Center (Hill). While housed at Stateville, Barnes suffered from prolapsed hemorrhoids, which he started expe- riencing in 2013. 1 Dr. Obaisi passed away in late 2017 and an estate was opened by his Executor. No. 24-2080 3 Wexford contracts with the Illinois Department of Correc- tions to provide medical, dental, vision, pharmaceutical, and mental health services for prisoners at Stateville and Hill. Wexford arranges and provides these services onsite at the prison institution and, as necessary, offsite at local hospitals, outpatient facilities, and consultative physician offices. When an onsite physician refers an inmate for care outside of the correctional institution, the referral goes through a process known as “collegial review.” Collegial review takes place during a scheduled conference call between Wexford’s corpo- rate director of utilization management and, at a minimum, the institution’s medical director. Occasionally, the onsite physician requesting care outside of the correctional institution as well as other Wexford physi- cians attend the call. During the conference call, a Stateville representative seeks approval to have an inmate referred out to an offsite provider for services. The request is approved or denied. The offsite providers, for their part, can refuse or ac- cept the inmate for care, and if refused, Wexford has no au- thority to force them to accept the inmate. On July 29, 2016, Barnes