The raw skin on prison inmate Leonard Corbin's face, neck and chest bubbled, blistered and oozed yellow fluid, the result of burns from a pitcher of scalding bean soup that an inmate poured on him.

But for the next three days, Corbin lay in solitary confinement with nothing but ibuprofen to control his pain.

That was not enough, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin ordered the U.S. government to pay Corbin $18,000 for the pain he suffered when prison medical staff negligently failed to treat appropriately the second-degree burns that covered 10 percent of Corbin's body in September and October 1998.

After an inmate assaulted Corbin with the steaming soup on Sept. 11, 1998, prison medical staff at the Federal Correctional Institute at McKean dressed Corbin's burns, offered him Motrin for pain, and placed him in solitary confinement. No doctor examined him for three days.

Citing expert testimony offered by burn specialist Dr. Charles Bales, McLaughlin found Corbin should have been examined immediately by a doctor, transferred to a burn unit and treated with narcotics to control the pain.

McLaughlin said second-degree burns are typically the most painful because they leave nerve endings intact.
He said the use of hydrogen peroxide and iodine and the manner in which the staff applied the cream were inappropriate.

"I find that the medical practitioners at FCI McKean deviated from the accepted standards of medical care," he said.

"The deviation caused (Corbin) to endure significantly greater pain over a longer period of time that he otherwise would," he said.

McLaughlin's decision came after a two-day nonjury trial in U.S. District Court in Erie.

As McLaughlin read his ruling onto the record, Corbin, a repeat offender who is serving 15 years in federal prison for drug and weapons violations, used his shirt to wipe tears from his face.

Erie lawyer S..E. "Tim" Riley Jr. represented Corbin.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Irwin of Pittsburgh represented the government. A lawyer for the Bureau of Prisons, Joyce Horikawa also assisted in the trial.

It is not known if the United States will appeal.