Professional Negligence Law Reporter

A Texas appellate court held that parents who sued a hospital for mishandling their child’s remains and allowing an invasive autopsy must comply with the expert report requirement for health care liability claims found in the Texas Medical Liability Act (TMLA).

Ashlee Balderrama delivered her son at the Hospitals of Providence Memorial Campus. The child, who suffered from trisomy 18, died shortly after birth. Balderrama agreed to a non-invasive autopsy only, but she and her husband later learned that their child had undergone an invasive autopsy and that some of his organs were taken.

Balderrama and her husband sued the hospital, alleging it negligently mishandled their child’s body, failed to prevent the invasive autopsy, and improperly kept his organs until they demanded their return. The defendants invoked the protections of the TMLA, and the plaintiffs moved for a preliminary determination of whether their claims constitute health care liability claims under the statute. The trial court granted the parents’ motion, finding that their claims were not health care liability claims under the TMLA.

Reversing, the appellate court noted that a health care liability claim is one against a physician or health care provider for treatment or professional services directly related to health care that proximately caused injury or death. The court noted that both Balderrama and her son were patients of the hospital when she consented to a limited autopsy. Citing case law, the court found that under the TMLA’s broad language, a patient is not required to be alive when alleged misconduct occurs. Here, the professional services underlying the plaintiffs’ claims were directly related to health care provided to Balderrama and her child while they were the defendant’s patients. As such, the court held, the plaintiffs’ claims constitute health care liability claims under the TMLA.

Citation: Tenet Hosps. Ltd. v. Balderrama, 2024 WL 3845451 (Tex. App. Aug. 16, 2024).