C.M. v. Tomball Regional Hospital

961 S.W.2d 236, 1997 WL 186709
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 10, 1997
Docket01-95-00623-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 961 S.W.2d 236 (C.M. v. Tomball Regional Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
C.M. v. Tomball Regional Hospital, 961 S.W.2d 236, 1997 WL 186709 (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

OPINION

MIRABAL, Justice.

This case involves claims of (1) violations of 42 U.S.C. § 1395 dd (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act or “EMTA-LA” 1 ); (2) invasion of privacy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“Section 1983”); (3) and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The claims arise out of the treatment of a 15-year-old girl at Tomball Hospital’s emergency room on the day following her rape. The trial court granted a take-nothing summary judgment in favor of the defendant hospital, doctor and nurse. We affirm in part, and reverse in part.

This suit was brought by C.M., individually and as next friend of her minor daughter. The petition alleges, in relevant part, 2 that on June 16, 1992, at approximately 2:00 p.m., the minor was raped by a 27-year-old man. *239 The next day, the minor’s mother and neighbor took the minor to the Tomball Hospital Emergency Room for examination. The petition alleges that defendant Mary Ruckman, the head nurse: (1) refused examination of the minor to determine the degree of the injury to her; (2) refused to prepare a “rape kit” on the minor; (3) treated the minor and her mother with “disdain, disgust and indignity”; and (4) caused information about the rape of the minor to be broadcast among other patrons of the emergency room by interviewing the minor in the public waiting room.

Against defendant nurse Ruckman, plaintiffs asserted causes of action based on: (1) intentional infliction of emotional distress for the way she conducted the interview of the minor rape victim in the public waiting room of the hospital; and (2) invasion of the minor’s right to privacy under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Against defendant Tomball Regional Hospital, plaintiffs asserted causes of action based on: (1) violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1395 dd (EMTALA), due to the failure and refusal of the emergency room to provide an appropriate medical screening exam, or stabilizing treatment, for the minor; and (2) violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by maintaining emergency room policies, customs, and practices that are “deliberately indifferent to the juvenile female sexual assault victim’s right to privacy,” causing public disclosure of private facts. 3

Against defendant Albert D. Friday, Jr., M.D., the medical director of the emergency department for the Hospital, plaintiffs alleged a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Specifically, plaintiffs asserted that, as a supervisory official who promulgates and enforces policy for the emergency room, Dr. Friday demonstrated a “deliberate indifference to rape victims’ rights to privacy and tacitly authorized the implementation of policies and practices that caused the invasion of the minor’s privacy and the disclosure of confidential information.” Further, plaintiffs alleged Dr. Friday’s failure to implement policies as recommended by the Texas Department of Health proximately caused the unreasonable disclosure of private facts.

Defendants moved for summary judgment, addressing each cause of action, and the trial court granted summary judgment.

In a sole point of error, plaintiffs assert the trial court erred by granting defendants’ motion for summary judgment when there were disputed fact issues as to each asserted cause of action.

The standard for appellate review of a summary judgment for a defendant is whether the summary judgment proof establishes, as a matter of law, that there is no genuine issue of material fact as to one or more of the essential elements of the plaintiff’s cause of action. Lear Siegler, Inc. v. Perez, 819 S.W.2d 470, 471 (Tex.1991); Gibbs v. General Motors Corp., 450 S.W.2d 827, 828 (Tex.1970). The movant has the burden to show that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management Co., 690 S.W.2d 546, 548-49 (Tex.1985). Evidence favorable to the non-movant will be taken as true in deciding whether there is a disputed material fact issue that precludes summary judgment. Id. Every reasonable inference must be indulged in favor of the non-movant and any doubts resolved in its favor. Randall’s Food Mkts., Inc. v. Johnson, 891 S.W.2d 640, 644 (Tex.1995). A summary judgment for the defendant, disposing of the entire case, is proper only if, as a matter of law, plaintiff could not succeed upon any theories pleaded. Smith, Seckman, Reid, Inc. v. Metro Nat’l Corp., 836 S.W.2d 817, 819 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1992, no writ); Havens v. Tomball Community Hosp., 793 S.W.2d 690, 691 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1990, writ denied); Dodson v. Rung, 717 S.W.2d 385, 390 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1986, no writ). Once the defendant produces sufficient evidence to establish the right to a summary judgment, the plaintiff must set forth sufficient evidence to give rise to a fact issue to *240 avoid a summary judgment. “Moore” Burger, Inc. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 492 S.W.2d 934, 936-37 (Tex.1972).

A summary judgment cannot be affirmed on any grounds not presented in the motion for summary judgment. Hall v. Harris County Water Control & Improvement Dist. No. 50, 683 S.W.2d 863, 867 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1984, no writ). When a trial court’s order does not specify the grounds relied on for its ruling, the summary judgment will be affirmed if any of the theories advanced are meritorious. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. S.S., 858 S.W.2d 374, 378 (Tex.1993); Jones v. Legal Copy, Inc., 846 S.W.2d 922, 924 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1993, no writ).

The uncontroverted summary judgment evidence shows that on June 16, 1992, the minor plaintiff was raped. She was brought to Tomball Hospital’s emergency room approximately 23 hours later, on June 17,1992. Mary Ruckman, the head nurse on duty, conducted the minor’s screening upon arrival.

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Bluebook (online)
961 S.W.2d 236, 1997 WL 186709, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cm-v-tomball-regional-hospital-texapp-1997.