Oakbend Medical Center v. Martinez

515 S.W.3d 536, 2017 WL 626649, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1215
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 14, 2017
DocketNO. 14-16-00199-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 515 S.W.3d 536 (Oakbend Medical Center v. Martinez) 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
Oakbend Medical Center v. Martinez, 515 S.W.3d 536, 2017 WL 626649, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1215 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

William J. Boyce, Justice

OakBend Medical Center appeals from an order denying summary judgment based on governmental immunity from suit. The order stems from a survival and wrongful death action brought by Domingo Martinez, Jr., Individually and as Representative of the Estate of Arturo Martinez.

Arturo Martinez escaped from his bed at OakBend while undergoing psychiatric treatment. Wrist and ankle restraints were available to secure him to a bed but were not in use when he escaped. He sustained fatal injuries when he was struck by a train shortly after leaving his bed and walking out of OakBend’s facility.

Survival and wrongful death claims predicated on an unrestrained psychiatric patient’s escape from a hospital bed are not actionable on this record because Arturo’s injuries and death did not arise from a condition or use of tangible personal or real property. Because the asserted exceptions to OakBend’s governmental immunity from suit do not apply, we reverse the trial court’s order and render judgment dismissing for lack of jurisdiction the claims against OakBend.

Background

A detailed timeline focusing on the final 36 hours of Arturo’s life will assist in analyzing governmental immunity from suit for survival and wrongful death claims arising from his escape while undergoing psychiatric treatment at OakBend.

I. Treatment at OakBend

Paramedics brought Arturo to OakBend in early December 2013 after police in Richmond, Texas found him unconscious. Arturo was admitted for treatment at Oak-Bend’s main campus, located at 1705 Jackson Street in Richmond, at approximately [539]*53910:00 p.m. on December 4. He displayed an “altered mental status” upon arrival at OakBend; he also was described as being “disoriented,” “confused,” “combative,” and “agitated” with “decreased responsiveness.” An additional notation states: “Possible] Drug Abuse.” Hospital records state that he had a history of schizophrenia.

Nursing notes from 10:10 p.m. on December 4 describe Arturo’s level of consciousness as “Agitated Alert Awake Confused [and] Disoriented to Place/Person.” He was noted to be “yelling and then laughing ... screaming that ‘you are all trying to murder me’ and ‘you cut off my penis.’” The notes also reflect the insertion of a catheter at that time.

Arturo pulled out his catheter at 10:46 p.m. and was “screaming and threatening to staff and security.” Richmond police were “notified ... and arrived within minutes to assist in getting [patient] ... back on stretcher. Medication ordered. Restrained for safety [with police] ... assistance].” A subsequent note says Arturo “gradually calmed somewhat.” The nursing notes reflect that Arturo had been “sedated” and Richmond police were “at bedside” at 11:00 p.m. A “Restraint Order Sheet” reflects that bilateral wrist and ankle restraints were ordered for Arturo at approximately 12:30 a.m. on December 5.

Arturo “pulled off [his] wrist restraints” by 1:30 a.m. on December 5 and was “sleeping at this time with security at bedside ... will leave unrestrained at this time.” Notes from 3:16 a.m. state: “[Patient] ... helped up out of bed to [urinate] .., [patient] dressed in hospital gown and socks ... remains ataxic and returned to stretcher with siderails up ... hospital security at [patient’s] ... doorway. [Patient] ... remains unrestrained. Presently Sleeping.” The notes reflect “no change from previous assessment” until 6:40 a.m. on December 5, when Arturo was “woken up and oriented to time and place ... for discharge .... ”

Following his discharge early on December 6, paramedics brought Arturo back to OakBend at 3:20 p.m. the same day. He was “agitated” and “hallucinating” when he returned, and his symptoms were “severe.” A note on the “Emergency Physician Record” states that Arturo was “seen in [Emergency Department] ... last night [with] ... severe psychosis—Drag induced...."

Nursing notes at 4:00 p.m. and 6:02 p.m. on December 5 reflect that Arturo refused to let nurses take his vital signs and there was “security at bedside.” At 7:16 p.m., Arturo was sitting up in bed with “security at bedside, [patient] ... cursing at security ....” At 8:28 p.m., a notation next to “Safety” lists the following: “Bed position low;” “Call system in reach;” “fall precautions;” “Siderails up.” There is no notation indicating that the bed’s wrist and ankle restraints were in use. Notes from 9:20 p.m. through 11:30 p.m. on December 5 reflect that security was present at Arturo’s bedside or at the door to his room.

Nursing notes at 2:45 a.m. on December 6 reflect that Arturo was “awake ... given [Gatorade] ... to drink with assistance through straw ... urinated [on] bed ... cleaned ... [patient] ,., now resting quietly with hospital security at doorway.” At 3:58 a.m., Arturo was “sitting up in bed .., attempting to leave room ... medicated ... and hospital security at bedside.”

Following this entry, Arturo escaped from his bed and walked out of OakBend at an undetermined time during the early morning hours of December 6. Paramedics were dispatched to railroad tracks in the 1500 block of Austin Street in Richmond at approximately 5:30 a.m. on December 6. The Patient Care Report created by Fort [540]*540Bend County EMS states as follows: “Location was directly behind Oakbend on Austin St, at the railroad tracks.” Paramedics found Arturo “on the ground moving around and moaning” after being hit by a train. They returned him to OakBend with severe injuries; he died in the operating room shortly after arriving.

II. Procedural History

Arturo’s father, Domingo Martinez, filed a petition predicating survival and wrongful death claims on OakBend’s alleged negligence in failing to (1) exercise ordinary care while treating Arturo; (2) adequately diagnose and treat Arturo; (3) provide adequate supervision; (4) provide physical restraints; (5) properly use physical restraints; (6) provide a hospital bed with adequate restraining devices; (7) provide a hospital bed sufficient for “the established needs of the patient,” and providing instead a bed that lacked an integral safety component; (8) provide “a reasonably safe and hazard-free premise for invitees;” (9) protect invitees from dangerous conditions; and (10) warn invitees of dangerous conditions.

OakBend filed a Rule 166a(c) traditional motion for summary judgment asserting its entitlement to dismissal because it is immune from suit as a “[gjovernmental unit” and no exception to governmental immunity applies under the Texas Tort Claims Act. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. § 101.021 (Vernon 2011). Based upon Arturo’s medical records, OakBend’s summary judgment motion asserted that no exception to immunity applies because his injuries and death were not proximately caused by “a condition or use of tangible personal or real property .... ” See id. § 101.021(2).

The summary judgment response relied on Arturo’s medical records in asserting that no immunity from suit applies here because

• “Immunity is waived for death or injury caused by a condition or use, or misuse of tangible personal or real property, including premises defects;”
• “Lacking an integral safety component is considered a ‘use or condition’ of property;” and
• “OakBend’s misuse of property and lack of integral safety components caused [Arturo] Martinez’s death.”

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Bluebook (online)
515 S.W.3d 536, 2017 WL 626649, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 1215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oakbend-medical-center-v-martinez-texapp-2017.