In their written rulings both judges stated that prisoners would suffer from a delay and also that orders for convening the panel could not be appealed under court rules. Henderson, who is overseeing a lawsuit challenging prison health care, wrote, "As this court has repeatedly stated, the inadequacies in California's delivery of medical health care to prison inmates literally presents a matter of life and death." Schwarzenegger spokesman Bill Maile said the governor intends to press on by taking the request for a stay to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Maile said asking the two district judges for a stay was a required first step. He said, "Now that we have taken that procedural step, we intend to seek a stay at the appellate level."/KCRA contributed to this story