West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988)
E403304
West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that a private physician under contract to provide medical services to state prisoners acts under color of state law for purposes of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988) canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3981298 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988) Context triple: [42 U.S.C. § 1983, interpretedBy, West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988)]
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A.
Atkins v. Virginia
Atkins v. Virginia is a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held executing individuals with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
-
B.
Lockett v. Ohio
Lockett v. Ohio is a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly expanded the range of mitigating factors a sentencer must be allowed to consider before imposing the death penalty.
-
C.
opinion in Atkins v. Virginia
The opinion in Atkins v. Virginia is a landmark 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision, authored by Justice John Paul Stevens, that held executing individuals with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
-
D.
Glossip v. Gross
Glossip v. Gross is a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the use of a particular lethal injection drug protocol in executions against Eighth Amendment challenges.
-
E.
Skinner v. Oklahoma
Skinner v. Oklahoma is a landmark 1942 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a state law mandating the sterilization of certain criminal offenders, recognizing procreation as a fundamental right under the Equal Protection Clause.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988) Target entity description: West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that a private physician under contract to provide medical services to state prisoners acts under color of state law for purposes of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
-
A.
Atkins v. Virginia
Atkins v. Virginia is a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held executing individuals with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
-
B.
Lockett v. Ohio
Lockett v. Ohio is a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly expanded the range of mitigating factors a sentencer must be allowed to consider before imposing the death penalty.
-
C.
opinion in Atkins v. Virginia
The opinion in Atkins v. Virginia is a landmark 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision, authored by Justice John Paul Stevens, that held executing individuals with intellectual disabilities violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
-
D.
Glossip v. Gross
Glossip v. Gross is a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the use of a particular lethal injection drug protocol in executions against Eighth Amendment challenges.
-
E.
Skinner v. Oklahoma
Skinner v. Oklahoma is a landmark 1942 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a state law mandating the sterilization of certain criminal offenders, recognizing procreation as a fundamental right under the Equal Protection Clause.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
ⓘ
United States Supreme Court decision ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
civil rights law
ⓘ
constitutional law ⓘ |
| arguedDate | 1987-10-05 ⓘ |
| citation | 487 U.S. 42 ⓘ |
| constitutionalProvisionInvolved |
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
ⓘ
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ
linked to:
Fourteenth Amendment
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decidedDate | 1988-06-20 ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1988 ⓘ |
| decisionType | unanimous decision ⓘ |
| docketNumber | 87-5096 ⓘ |
| factSummary |
The case involved a North Carolina state prisoner who alleged inadequate medical treatment by an orthopedic surgeon under contract with the state.
ⓘ
The physician treated inmates at a state prison hospital on a part-time contractual basis. ⓘ |
| firstPage | 42 ⓘ |
| holding | A private physician under contract with the state to provide medical services to inmates acts under color of state law for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. ⓘ |
| impact |
clarified that private medical providers for prisons can be sued as state actors under § 1983
ⓘ
influenced later litigation involving privatization of prison services ⓘ |
| joinedByInMajority |
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist
ⓘ
linked to:
William H. Rehnquist
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy ⓘ
linked to:
Anthony M. Kennedy
Justice Antonin Scalia ⓘ
linked to:
Antonin Scalia
Justice Byron R. White ⓘ
linked to:
Byron R. White
Justice John Paul Stevens ⓘ
linked to:
John Paul Stevens
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor ⓘ
linked to:
Sandra Day O’Connor
Justice Thurgood Marshall ⓘ
linked to:
Thurgood Marshall
Justice William J. Brennan Jr. ⓘ
linked to:
William J. Brennan Jr.
|
| jurisdiction | federal question jurisdiction ⓘ |
| keyPrinciple |
Contractual status as an independent contractor does not preclude a finding of action under color of state law.
ⓘ
Private individuals performing functions traditionally and exclusively reserved to the state may be considered state actors. ⓘ Providing medical care to incarcerated persons is a function traditionally within the exclusive prerogative of the state. ⓘ State responsibility for inmate medical care cannot be evaded by delegating that duty to private contractors. ⓘ |
| legalIssue | state action requirement under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ⓘ |
| legalProvisionInterpreted | 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy |
Justice Harry A. Blackmun
ⓘ
linked to:
Harry A. Blackmun
|
| officialCitationFormat | West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988) ⓘ |
| petitioner | Kevin West ⓘ |
| priorCourt | United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ⓘ |
| priorCourtDisposition | judgment for defendant affirmed ⓘ |
| relatedDoctrine |
deliberate indifference to serious medical needs
ⓘ
state action doctrine ⓘ under color of state law ⓘ |
| remedySought | damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ⓘ |
| reporter | United States Reports ⓘ |
| respondent | Samuel Atkins ⓘ |
| stateInvolved | North Carolina ⓘ |
| supremeCourtDisposition | reversed and remanded ⓘ |
| volume | 487 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988) Description of subject: West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that a private physician under contract to provide medical services to state prisoners acts under color of state law for purposes of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.