Dugas
Last October, Debra Miller, the executrix of a Helen Gibson's estate, filed suit against the doctor and hospital she blames for nicking Gibson's colon during surgery.
On Monday, Judge Milton Shuffield, 136th District Court, partially granted defendant Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth's objections to the plaintiff's medical expert report.
Texas law requires plaintiffs to submit a medical expert report within 30 days of filing a medical malpractice claim.
Christus filed a motion to dismiss on March 4, arguing the plaintiff's report failed to identity any substantial negligence committed by its nurses.
Judges Shuffield told the Southeast Texas Record that he dismissed the negligence claims against Christus' operating nurses, but was still undecided about the floor nurses who cared for Gibson during her stay at the hospital.
He said he was taking the remainder of the motion under advisement and would most likely issue a ruling next week.
The lawsuit claims defendant Dr. Scott Kacy nicked the 79-year-old Gibson's colon during an elective injunial hernia repair on Aug. 8, 2008.
Gibson returned to the emergency room with a fever a few days following the surgery. During a laparotomy performed on Aug. 13, 2008, doctors discovered Gibson's nicked colon.
She died on May 1, 2009, according to the complaint.
The suit blames Christus' nurses for causing Gibson's pain and death, saying they negligently failed to provide her with proper care and treatment.
Clay Dugas and Mike Jacobellis of Clay Dugas and Associates in Beaumont represent the plaintiff.
Christus is represented by Houston attorney Erin Lunceford of the Sprott, Rigby, Newsom, Robbins & Lunceford law firm
Case No. D188-642