HOUSTON – On June 21, the 1st District Court of Appeals issued a ruling to reverse a man’s negligence claim against St. Joseph Medical Center.
The Appellate Court reversed the 127th District Court of Harris County's order on the negligence claim only, stating that a patient’s claim that the hospital acted negligently when armed officers used a stun gun, shot and handcuffed him while he was having a mental health problem was a health care liability claim, not a negligence claim.
Justice Jennifer Caughey wrote the court order along with Justices Laura Carter Higley and Harvey Brown.
Alan Pean filed a complaint against Iasis Healthcare Corp. and SJ Medical Center LLC, doing business as St. Joseph Medical Center, asserting claims of negligence, malicious prosecution and conspiracy.
The opinion states Pean was being observed overnight at the hospital after a “mental health crisis” in which he crashed his car and he claims he was suffering from confusion. The opinion states Pean repeatedly walked out of his hospital room naked and nurses told him to go back to his room. Pean claims that the nurses then sent armed officers into his room and they used a stun gun, shot and handcuffed him while he was having a mental health episode.
Pean claims the hospital should have trained security staff how to assist mentally ill patients and further alleged that the police officers and Iasis “worked to exonerate the security officers by bringing charges against Pean for felony assault and reckless driving” for the car crash that landed him in the hospital.
Pean claimed that his claims are not health care liability claims but included an expert report as a precaution from an individual who is not a physician. The trial court denied Iasis’ motion to dismiss.
Iasis appealed, claiming that the trial court erred in granting Pean’s negligence claim. The defendants argued that the negligence claim is a health care liability claim, and that Pean’s expert report did not meet the requirements of The Medical Liability Act of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
The Appellate Court stated that Pean’s claim that the hospital’s actions of sending armed officers that were not trained to handle mentally ill patients fell below the standard of care asserted a cause of action against the hospital.
“The alleged negligence occurred while the hospital defendants were protecting patients from harm,” the opinion states.
Caughey affirmed the trial court ruling on Penn’s claims of malpractice and conspiracy because they were not health care liability claims.
Caughey stated that because the expert was not a physician, “Pean’s sole expert report failed to meet statutory requirements…we reverse as to Pean’s negligence claim.”
Court of Appeals for the 1st District of Texas case number 01-17-00638-CV