MedMalFirm.com wins appeal regarding Chapter 74 Expert Report

On June 12, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas at Dallas filed an opinion in favor of MedMalFirm.com’s client, the Appellee in the case, regarding the validity of the Chapter 74 expert report that was filed in the case.

The Facts Behind the Lawsuit

MedMalFirm.com wins appeal regarding Expert Report Filed in Fall Case

Following back surgery, our client, Rosalinda Sager age 70, was admitted to Nexion Health at Garland for rehab following her surgery. Upon admission to the facility, Ms. Sager was assessed as having a high fall risk based upon her prior history of falls, chair-bound status, current medications, poor vision, and predisposing conditions. It was also noted that she would require a two-person assist with transfer, in addition to extensive assistance from the staff for her day-to-day tasks and activities.

On December 6, 2012, Ms. Sager called for assistance getting help out of her wheelchair and into her bed, but the facility’s staff did not respond in a timely manner. As a result, the resident-patient attempted to hoist herself up out of her wheelchair and into her bed without assistance, which led to a serious fall. The patient had to sit down on the floor following her lack of balance and fall.

After approximately 7 hours, x-rays were ordered but did not show any fractures. The following day, the patient informed the staff that she was not feeling well. She also developed a knot on her lower right buttock that became purple and bruised. She was finally transferred to the hospital where they were able to identify internal bleeding. Ms. Sager passed away on December 11, 2012 as the result of blunt force trauma, retroperitoneal hemorrhage, and body fluid in the abdomen.

Christine Townsend, individually and on behalf of Ms. Sager’s estate, filed a health care liability claim against the defendants.

Chapter 74

Chapter 74 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code requires an expert report to be filed with a medical malpractice claim. The report should be filed no later than 120 days after the defendant’s original answer is filed, and it should include a CV for the expert or experts listed in the report.

An expert report is defined as a written report that provides a fair summary of the expert’s opinions as of the date of the report regarding applicable standards of care, the manner in which the care rendered by the physician or health care provider failed to meet the standards of care, and the causal relationship between that failure and the injury, harm, or damages claimed.

Chapter 74 Expert Report in This Case

In this case, Christine Townsend submitted the Chapter 74 expert report of Dr. Luis Gonzalez in support of her claims. The defendants in this case filed objections to the report in addition to filing a motion to dismiss based on the report’s failure to adequately address any breach of the applicable standard of care by the defendant, and to sufficiently identify and describe causation.

The trial court denied the motion and the Court of Appeals affirmed holding that the report was indeed sufficient and complied with the requirements outlined in Chapter 74.

See Also

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