Texas Laurel Ridge Hospital, L.P. D/B/A Laurel Ridge Treatment Center v. Dora Almazan

374 S.W.3d 601, 2012 WL 2581054, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 5303
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 5, 2012
Docket04-11-00545-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 374 S.W.3d 601 (Texas Laurel Ridge Hospital, L.P. D/B/A Laurel Ridge Treatment Center v. Dora Almazan) 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
Texas Laurel Ridge Hospital, L.P. D/B/A Laurel Ridge Treatment Center v. Dora Almazan, 374 S.W.3d 601, 2012 WL 2581054, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 5303 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by:

STEVEN C. HILBIG, Justice.

The issue in this accelerated appeal is whether Dora Almazan’s cause of action against Texas Laurel Ridge Hospital, L.P. d/b/a Laurel Ridge Treatment Center (“Laurel Ridge”) is a health care liability claim subject to the expert report requirement in section 74.351 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. We hold the cause is a health care liability claim, and because the trial court found Almazan’s expert report was fatally deficient after giving her an opportunity to cure, the court erred in denying Laurel Ridge’s motion to dismiss.

*603 Background

Almazan sued Dr. Gundlapalli Surya and Laurel Ridge, alleging that when Almazan went to Laurel Ridge in June 2007 for voluntary outpatient therapeutic counseling services, the staff “closed the door behind her and did not permit her to leave.” Almazan alleged she was diagnosed with mood disorder, depression, and having suicidal thoughts and plans, without having been interviewed by her treating physician, Dr. Surya, and without anyone consulting her family. She contended the admission staff prepared documents “with numerous fabrications, alleging she was suicidal and dangerous to herself, purportedly requiring inpatient mental health treatment.” According to Almazan, she was confined to a locked ward and refused food until she signed a voluntary admission form. Almazan asserted she was not suicidal, and that the Laurel Ridge staff and Dr. Surya repeatedly refused to reevaluate her. She alleged she was drugged without her consent and that she was “given drugs against her will that rendered her comatose.” According to Almazan, she was summarily discharged without a professionally developed continuity of care treatment plan when the insurance company refused to pay for further inpatient care. In addition, Almazan alleged that Laurel Ridge took blood samples from her that revealed “extremely high concentration of lymphocytes, a clear indication of Leukemia,” and that she was not told of these results. She contends she was not diagnosed with leukemia until a year later, when she was hospitalized because of excessive bleeding. Almazan alleged that Laurel Ridge and its medical and nursing staff, including Dr. Surya, “failed to satisfy the operative standards of care for such professionals” and violated her “patient rights.”

Almazan sued Dr. Surya for medical negligence and “common law negligence.” She sued Laurel Ridge for: (1) medical negligence; (2) “common law negligence;” (3) fraud; (4) violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act; (5) negligence per se, based on alleged violations of the Texas Mental Health Code, the Texas Health & Safety Code, and the Texas Nurse Practices Act; and (6) violation of the “patient’s bill of rights” promulgated under to section 321.002 of the Health and Safety Code.

Almazan attached to her petition the expert report of George S. Glass, M.D. “in compliance with Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 74.351.” The defendants objected to Dr. Glass’s qualifications and to the sufficiency of his report. The trial court sustained the objections and gave Almazan thirty days to cure the deficiencies. After Almazan served an addendum to Dr. Glass’s report, the defendants filed further objections and motions to dismiss pursuant to section 74.351(b) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. Following a hearing, the trial court issued an order finding the report “so deficient as to the statutory requirements of § 74.351 that it constitutes no report at all.” The court dismissed with prejudice all “causes of action pertaining to and involving medical malpractice claims,” and awarded defendants costs and attorney’s fees. The court subsequently expressly denied Laurel Ridge’s motion to dismiss the claim brought under chapter 321 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, ruling the claim was not a health care liability claim subject to the expert report requirement of section 74.351 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. All other claims against Laurel Ridge and all Almazan’s claims against Dr. Surya were dismissed. 1

*604 Laurel Ridge filed this interlocutory appeal, arguing the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion to dismiss because the court erroneously concluded Almazan’s Chapter 321 claim was not a health care liability claim. Almazan responds that a cause of action filed pursuant to chapter 321 of the Texas Health and Safety Code is not a “health care liability claim” and is not subject to the requirements of Chapter 74 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code. In addition, Almazan argues that the limitation on discovery in section 74.351(s) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code violates the separation of powers clause of the Texas Constitution. We conclude that because all Almazan’s claims against Laurel Ridge were based on the same underlying facts, they must be dismissed because Almazan did not file a timely, sufficient expert report. See Yamada v. Friend, 335 S.W.3d 192, 193-94 (Tex.2010) (“When the underling facts are encompassed by provisions of [Chapter 74] in regard to a defendant, then all claims against that defendant based on those facts must be brought as health care liability claims.”). The constitutional issue raised in Almazan’s appellee’s brief was not presented to or ruled on by the trial court. Nor does the question bear on the resolution of the issue Laurel Ridge presents on appeal. Accordingly, we do not address that issue.

Standard of Review

We generally review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss a claim pursuant to section 74.351 for abuse of discretion. See Am. Transitional Care Ctrs. Of Tex., Inc. v. Palacios, 46 S.W.3d 873, 875 (Tex.2001). However, when resolution of the issue requires the interpretation of a statute, we apply a de novo standard. Buchanan v. O’Donnell, 340 S.W.3d 805, 810 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2011, no pet.).

Applicable Law and Context

Chapter 74 Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code

Section 74.351(a) of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code requires a claimant in a health care liability claim, not later than the 120th day after the petition was filed, to serve on all parties 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). The report must “provide[ ] a fair summary of the expert’s opinions as of the date of the report regarding applicable standards of care, the manner in which the care rendered by the physician or health care provider failed to meet the standards, and the causal relationship between that failure and the injury, harm, or damages claimed.” Id. § 74.351(r)(6). On timely objection that the report is insufficient, the trial court may grant one 30-day extension of time to cure the deficiency. Id. § 74.351(a), (c).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
374 S.W.3d 601, 2012 WL 2581054, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 5303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-laurel-ridge-hospital-lp-dba-laurel-ridge-treatment-center-v-texapp-2012.