D.A. v. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Denton

514 S.W.3d 431, 2017 WL 632907, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1373
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 16, 2017
DocketNO. 02-16-00148-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 514 S.W.3d 431 (D.A. v. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Denton) 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
D.A. v. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Denton, 514 S.W.3d 431, 2017 WL 632907, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1373 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

BONNIE SUDDERTH, JUSTICE

I. Introduction

Appellants D.A. and M.A, bring this interlocutory appeal challenging the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Appellees Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Denton (THP), Marc Wilson, M.D., and Alliance OB/GYN Specialists, PLLC d/b/a OB/GYN Specialists, PLLC. We granted permission to appeal on a single issue—-whether civil practice and remedies code section 74.153 applies to medical care provided in an obstetrical unit without the patient having first been evaluated in a hospital emergency department. See Tex. Civ. Prac. <& Rem. Code Ann. § 74.153 (West 2011). In reversing the judgment below, we hold that it does not.

II. Background

Appellants’ child, A.A., suffered a bra-chial plexus injury during labor and delivery when the infant’s shoulder became lodged against M.A.’s pubic symphysis bone, resulting in a condition known as “shoulder dystocia.” The night before A.A. was born, M.A. checked into THP for an elective induction of labor. The next morning, Wilson prescribed the administration of Pitocin to begin M.A.’s contractions, and he monitored her labor progression throughout the remainder of the day. Nothing occurred that caused Wilson to believe that either M.A. or A.A. was facing an emergency situation until later that evening when A,A.’s progress in descending from M.A,’s pelvis ceased. Although Wilson applied forceps to deliver A.A.’s head, the rest of the infant’s body did not follow.

At that point Wilson recognized the shoulder dystocia and began maneuvers to release the shoulder and deliver the infant. Both sides agree that A.A.’s shoulder dys-tocia presented an emergent situation that placed both M.A. and A.A. at risk for injury or death if the infant could not be quickly extricated from that position. And while neither side disputes that A.A. suffered a brachial plexus injury, the parties disagree as to whether Appellees’ conduct caused the injury or whether A.A.’s injury would have occurred despite the medical care provided during delivery.

Challenging the ordinary negligence claims filed against them in the medical malpractice lawsuit that ensued, Appellees sought summary judgment, arguing that since the allegations levied against them are governed by civil practice and remedies code section 74.153, Appellants must prove negligence by a willful and wanton standard. See id. That statute provides,

In a suit involving a health care liability claim against a physician or health care provider for injury to or death of a patient arising out of the provision of emergency medical care in a hospital emergency department or obstetrical unit or in a surgical suite immediately following the evaluation or treatment of a patient in a hospital emergency department, the claimant bringing the [433]*433suit may prove that the treatment or lack of treatment by the physician or health care provider departed from the accepted standards of medical care or health care only if the claimant shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the physician or health care provider, with wilful and wanton negligence, deviated from the degree of care and skill that is reasonably expected of an ordinarily prudent physician or health care provider in the same or similar circumstances.

Id. (emphases added).

The trial court agreed with Appellees and granted summary judgment on Appellants’ claims of ordinary negligence, ruling that section 74.153 applies to medical care performed in an obstetrical unit and that Appellants must prove their claims against Appellees under a “wilful and wanton negligence” standard. Appellants filed a petition for permission to appeal this interlocutory judgment,1 and we granted permission to appeal on the question of whether section 74.153 applies to medical care provided in an obstetrical unit without the patient’s first having been evaluated in a hospital emergency department. See Tex. R. App. P. 28.3.

III. Standard of Review

We review matters of statutory interpretation de novo. Tex. W. Oaks Hosp., HP v. Williams, 371 S.W.3d 171, 177 (Tex. 2012). And while the primary objective of statutory interpretation is to “ascertain and effectuate the Legislature’s intent,” the supreme court instructs us that the source for legislative intent is found, whenever possible, in the plain language of the statute itself. Janvey v. Golf Channel, Inc., 487 S.W.3d 560, 572 (Tex. 2016). As the supreme court has further instructed us, when a statute’s words “yield a single inescapable interpretation,” our inquiry ends. Alex Sheshunoff Mgmt. Servs., L.P. v. Johnson, 209 S.W.3d 644, 651-52 (Tex. 2006). That is, we do not resort to extrinsic aids to interpret a statute that is clear and unambiguous. Sullivan v. Abraham, 488 S.W.3d 294,299 (Tex. 2016). But when a statute is ambiguous, we must resort to rules of construction or extrinsic aids. Greater Houston P’ship v. Paxton, 468 S.W.3d 51, 58 (Tex. 2015).

IV. Is the Statute Ambiguous?

A. Identifying the Relationship Between the Statute’s Phrases

In this appeal we are asked to consider the relationship between the phrase “immediately following the evaluation or treatment of a patient in a hospital emergency department” (hereinafter “Evaluation or Treatment Phrase”) and two other phrases, “in a hospital emergency department or obstetrical unit” and “in a surgical suite” that appear in section 74.153. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 74.153. As presented and briefed by the parties, the question before us is: To which location (or locations) does the Evaluation or Treatment Phrase apply? Surgical suites? Obstetrical units? Hospital emergency departments? Or all three?

If the Evaluation or Treatment Phrase applies only to surgical suites, as Appellees argue, then the emergency medical care provided to A.A. is subject to section 74.153 because emergency care provided in an obstetrical unit—where A.A. received emergency care—need not immediately follow evaluation or treatment in the hospi[434]*434tal emergency department to trigger the statute. If, however, the phrase applies to obstetrical units, as Appellants argue, then the emergency medical care provided to A.A. does not invoke section 74.153 because it was not provided immediately following evaluation or treatment in the hospital emergency department.

B. Grammar and Usage

When examining statutory text, the Code Construction Act mandates that we read words and phrases in context and construe them according to the rules of grammar and usage. Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 311.011(a) (West 2013) (providing that “[wjords and phrases shall be read in context and construed according to the rules of grammar _”); see Entergy Gulf States, Inc. v.

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514 S.W.3d 431, 2017 WL 632907, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/da-v-texas-health-presbyterian-hospital-of-denton-texapp-2017.