Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. v. Palit

415 S.W.3d 9, 2012 WL 1038758, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2391
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 28, 2012
DocketNo. 04-11-00172-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 415 S.W.3d 9 (Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. v. Palit) 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
Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. v. Palit, 415 S.W.3d 9, 2012 WL 1038758, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2391 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Opinion by:

KAREN ANGELINI, Justice.

At issue in this appeal is whether Kenneth Palit’s claims brought against his employer are health care liability claims subject to chapter 74’s expert report requirement. Because we hold that Palit’s claims are not health care liability claims, we affirm the trial court’s order denying the motion to dismiss pursuant to section 74.351(b) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

BACKGROUND

On March 24, 2010, Palit sued Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. and Mission Vista Behavioral Health Services, Inc. d/b/a Mission Vista Behavioral Health Center (collectively “Mission Vista”) for negligence and sought damages for personal injuries. According to Palit’s petition, on or about April 2, 2008, he was working for Mission Vista when “he was injured as a result of improper security of a dangerous psychiatric patient, which caused an injury to his neck, back and body generally.” According to Palit, Mission Vista “failed to provide a safe working environment and failed to make sufficient precautions for [his] safety.” On April 19, 2010, Mission Vista filed an answer generally denying the allegations. On December 17, 2010, Mission Vista filed a first supplemental answer, alleging as an affirmative defense that Palit’s claims were health care liability claims and were therefore governed by chapter 74 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Also on December 17, 2010, Mission Vista filed a motion to dismiss Palit’s claims for failure to serve an expert report pursuant to section 74.351(b). On February 7, 2011, the trial court denied the motion. Mission Vista then brought this interlocutory appeal.

Standard of Review

Generally, we review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss a claim pursuant to section 74.351 for an abuse of discretion. See Wilson N. Jones Mem’l Hosp. v. Ammons, 266 S.W.3d 51, 55 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2008, pet. denied). However, when the resolution of an issue on appeal requires the interpretation of a statute, we apply a de novo standard of review. Id. Thus, we review de novo whether Palit’s claims are health care liability claims under chapter 74. See id.; Tex. W. Oaks Hosp., LP v. Williams, 322 S.W.3d 349, 352 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2010, pet. granted).

Health Care Liability Claims?

Mission Vista argues that because [11]*11Palit is a claimant1 bringing health care liability claims under chapter 74, he was required to serve an expert report under chapter 74. In response, Palit emphasizes that his suit alleges he was injured in the course and scope of his employment as a result of improper security of a dangerous psychiatric patient and Mission Vista’s failure to provide a safe working environment. According to Palit, these allegations do not constitute health care liability claims because the duties Mission Vista owed Palit as an employer are distinct from the duties it owed its patient in the rendition of health care.

Section 74.351(a) requires a “claimant,” not later than the 120th day after the date the petition was filed, to serve on each party or the party’s attorney one or more expert reports for each physician or health care provider against whom a liability claim is asserted. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 74.351(a) (West 2011). If such an expert report is not timely served, the trial court, on the motion of the affected physician or health care provider, shall dismiss the claim with prejudice. See id. § 74.351(b). A “claimant” under chapter 74 is “a person, including a decedent’s estate, seeking or who has sought recovery of damages in a health care liability claim,” and “[a]ll persons claiming to have sustained damages as the result of the bodily injury or death of a single person are considered a single claimant.” Id. § 74.001(a)(2) (West Supp. 2011). A “health care liability claim” is

a cause of action against a health care provider or physician for treatment, lack of treatment, or other claimed departure from accepted standards of medical care, or health care, or safety or professional or administrative services directly related to health care, which proximately re-suits in injury to or death of a claimant, whether the claimant’s claim or cause of action sounds in tort or contract.

Id. § 74.001(a)(13). And, “health care” is “any act or treatment performed or furnished, or that should have been performed or furnished, by any health care provider for, to, or on behalf of a patient during the patient’s medical care, treatment, or confinement.” Id. § 74.001(a)(10). Thus, a health care liability claim consists of three elements: (1) “a physician or health care provider must be the defendant”; (2) “the suit must be about the patient’s treatment, lack of treatment, or some other departure from accepted standards of medical care or health care or safety”; and (3) “the defendant’s act, omission, or other departure must proximately cause the patient’s injury or death.” Marks v. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hosp., 319 S.W.3d 658, 662 (Tex.2010). To determine whether a claim is a health care liability claim, a court must examine the underlying nature of the claims alleged in the petition. Id. at 664.

In determining whether a claim is a health care liability claim, the supreme court has explained that “standards of medical care or health care [are] implicated when the negligent act or omission [is] an inseparable or integral part of the rendition of medical services.” Id. at 664. The court further explained that “an accepted standard of safety is implicated under the MLIIA when the unsafe condition or thing, causing injury to the patient, is an inseparable or integral part of the patient’s care or treatment.” Id. Of course, in this case, we are not dealing with an injury to a patient, but an injury to an employee.

The Fourteenth Court of Appeals addressed this issue of whether claims [12]*12brought by an employee for injuries suffered as a result of an unsafe workplace were health care liability claims in Texas West Oaks Hospital, LP v. Williams, 322 S.W.3d 349, 351 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2010, pet. granted).2 In that case, the patient, Mario Vidaurre, a man with a history of paranoid schizophrenia and violent outbursts, was admitted to West Oaks for psychiatric treatment and was placed on one-to-one observation. Id. Frederick Williams was one of the technicians assigned to observe and monitor Vidaurre’s behavior. Id. When Vidaurre became agitated, Williams took him to a fenced-in area behind the hospital to smoke a cigarette. Id. The door locked behind them, and Williams did not have access to any type of emergency alarm or call button. Id. Further, there was not a monitored security camera covering that area. Id. While Vidaurre and Williams were in the smoking area, they had a physical altercation. Id. Williams was injured, and Vi-daurre died. Id. Williams sued West Oaks, his employer, for negligence. Id. He alleged that his employer breached its duty to him regarding his safety. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
415 S.W.3d 9, 2012 WL 1038758, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/psychiatric-solutions-inc-v-palit-texapp-2012.