In the recent opinion of Texas West Oaks Hospital, LP, LLC v. Williams, Cause No. 10-0603, The Texas Supreme Court again used the Republican’s Health Care Liability “Reform” Laws (the Texas Medical Liability Act) to include something that is clearly not a medical malpractice case and strip an injured victim of her rights to seek fair and equitable redress in a Texas Court.
The Hospital Had No Worker’s Comp. to Cover On-The-Job Injuries
Williams, a nurse who suffered a serious on-the-job injury, filed a lawsuit against her employer which neglected to carry Worker’s Compensation Insurance for its employees. The Worker’s Compensation Statute was enacted to protect employees by stripping employers of their common law defenses in a civil action if they refused to provide their employees with Worker’s Compensation coverage. The Texas Medical Liability Act has certain requirements that Plaintiffs file an expert report within 120 days of bringing a lawsuit that is considered a health care liability claim. Only, that term is so vaguely defined that Plaintiffs have little guidance as to what it means. If they fail to provide the report, and the case is thereafter found to be a “Health Care Liability Claim,” then the case is automatically dismissed with no grace period to get a report and no right to refile.
Supreme Court Rules it a Health Care Liability Claim
In the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion, the Court held that a simple on-the-job injury fell within the scope of the Texas Medical Liability Act even though it had nothing to do with medical malpractice and was not within the scope of the statute that the Republicans represented to the people of Texas when they sought to pass it. Furthermore, this ruling is contrary to the purpose of the Texas Worker’s Compensation Act and encourages medical facilities to act irresponsibly by not carrying coverage for their doctors, nurses, and other employees. As an additional benefit to the negligent employer, even if the Plaintiff does spend the $10,000.00 or more that is often required to get a qualified report from an expert witness, the damages fall under the $250,000.00 non-economic damages cap of the Texas Medical Liability Act–making the case very difficult to settle and more unlikely a Texas medical malpractice lawyer will take on the risk on a contingency fee.
Other Cases Absorbed by Broad Scope of the Texas Medical Liability Act
This was not surprising since the Texas Medical Liability Act has been used to prevent all kinds of cases including cases where medical providers raped and abused patients, a slip and fall case due to a wet floor in a patient’s room, and a case where a bed-ridden nursing home resident was bitten by a brown recluse spider because the nursing home neglected to exterminate. This case again demonstrates how the law was not really in response to any medical malpractice crisis but was just a farce to create an arbitrary cap on damages in as many personal injury-type claims as the Republican legislators could reach to deter people from vindicating their rights against these corporate giants.
Texas West Oaks Hospital, LP, LLC v. Williams demonstrates just how little your Texas Supreme Court and the legislature care about the rights of citizens in the State of Texas. It further demonstrates a trend in the Texas Supreme Court to find any case involving a medical provider as the defendant in a health care liability claim.
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