Texas
Related: About this forumStrict Texas Law Makes Ebola Lawsuits Unlikely
One of the unexpected lessons from the Ebola cases in Dallas may well be how thoroughly Texas protects hospitalsand their insurance companiesfrom answering for critical lapses in care.
When Thomas Eric Duncan entered the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospitals emergency room on Sept. 25 with a fever and complaining of stomach pain, theres a chance that proper treatment might have saved him from the Ebola virus that would kill him 13 days later. Instead, the Liberian man was sent home with only painkillers and antibiotics. Duncans family and his fiancée are haunted by the question of whether Duncan might have survived had he been properly diagnosed. Executives at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital have admitted to mistakes and apologized to Duncans family.
But should Duncans family members seek more than an apology, and ask the courts to hold the hospital accountable for its missteps, they wont find much recourse under Texas law. Neither will the nurses who contracted Ebola while treating Duncan, apparently for a time without sufficient safety gear, nor will anyone who might have contracted the virus from them later.
Thanks to a number of Texas court decisions and lawsincluding a sweeping 2003 Republican-led tort reform effortlawyers say its unlikely that Presbyterian faces serious legal risk from the Ebola cases or others like them. Even if the hospital were found liable in court, the damages would be limited. Without the threat of expensive litigation, critics of tort reform argue, hospitals face little consequence for turning away sick, uninsured patients, even ones with Ebola.
Read more: http://www.texasobserver.org/ebola-dallas-tort-reform/
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)LeftInTX
(24,560 posts)Although I don't think Duncan's family will have difficulty finding an attorney. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like that is where Louise Trohs thoughts are at the moment. I would hope an advocate will approach them on this....