I love the phrase because it's a contradiction in terms. But I want to truly understand what it means. I ask because the examples I've found on the internet all use correctional facility professionals as their examples.

As I understand it, it means consciously ignoring injury or risk of injury to an inmate. The example I found on the internet places a cobra in a cell. The guards know of the cobra or at least know that there is a possibility of a cobra in the cell, but place an inmate in that cell anyway. The example I saw in an HBO series called "Oz," shows an inmate complaining of a back injury, his C.O.s assume he's faking and give him even more strenuous work, and he reinjures himself. A legal assistant says they violated his rights under "deliberate indifference."

My question is, does this only apply to inmates? Could not a medical professional, for instance, ignore a patient's complaints of symptoms, for whatever reason, perhaps believing the patient is a hypochondriac or is faking?

The examples you describe sound more like "recklessness" or "reckless disregard" to me. While the terms may be similar to "deliberate indifference" it's "reckless" that I've seen used as a legal term and not "deliberate indifference."

Recklessness refers to a deliberate or conscious disregard for known risks. It certainly can apply to circumstances other than inmates, e.g., reckless homicide or even malpractice. At common law reckless is also the culpable mental state for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

A related term that you may be thinking of is "willful ignorance" because it too is a bit of an oxymoron. After all, if you know to not look then you know. Willful ignorance has often been deemed "constructive knowledge" under the law for just that reason. Willful ignorance is one of the three definitions of "knowingly" submitting a false claim under the False Claims Act at 31 USC 3729.


"A man never drinks anything that a plant lives in" --DBone (A Real Man).
http://vimeo.com/4938173

I found an attorney site that explains this confusing term. This is the site I mentioned about the "cobra in the cell" scenario:http://www.wlv-online.com/what_is_deliberate_indifference.htm

This is the reference I found in the HBO prison drama Oz:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4ARLwxDYA

The reference to "deliberate indifference" begins with an exchange between the character of Tobias Beecher (former inmate and disbarred lawyer, now employed as a legal assistant) and Henry Stanton (an inmate who injures his back), beginning about about 1:10 into the video. About 1:45 into the video, Beecher states that the C.O.'s probably violated Stanton's "rights under the eight amendment, deliberate indifference."

I'm no constitutional lawyer, but I wasn't aware that the eighth amendment covered any such thing. Unless he's referring to a state constitution.

But not really an earth-shaking issue. I was just was just fascinated by this new and contradictory term. Malaprops, redundancies (such as "irregardless"), and contradictory terms have always entertained me. And I was just delighted to find a new one.

Well, the 8th Amendment does not address anything about "deliberate indifference", or recklessness, or willful ignorance.  However, it does mention cruel and unusual punishment.  I suppose the question would be whether ignoring a cobra in a prisoners cell constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.  I suspect that a court might hold that it does.

"A man never drinks anything that a plant lives in" --DBone (A Real Man).
http://vimeo.com/4938173