Professional Negligence Law Reporter

A Texas appellate court held that an osteopathic physician who sued a hospital after he was shocked by an electrocautery device while performing a cesarean section was required to serve an expert report under the Texas Medical Liability Act (TMLA), Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Ann. §74.

Osteopathic physician Patrick Skulemowski experienced an electroshock while using an electrocautery device during a cesarean section at Valley Regional Medical Center. He sued the hospital, alleging it had negligently failed to maintain the device. The defendant moved to dismiss on the basis that the plaintiff had failed to serve an expert report for his health care liability claim, as required under the TMLA. The trial court denied the motion.

Reversing, the appellate court noted that whether a claim constitutes a health care liability claim is determined by the nature of the acts or omissions resulting in the alleged injuries. Finding that Skulemowski had presented such a claim, the court reasoned that his injuries occurred while he was performing surgery on a patient at the defendant hospital. Medical equipment specific to a patient’s care or treatment is an integral part of health care services, the court found, adding that the alleged negligence here arose out of safety standards that are part of the professional duties owed by the hospital as a health care provider.

The court found that there was a substantive nexus between the alleged safety standards breached and the provision of health care. Thus, the court concluded, the plaintiff’s claim is one for health care liability, making him a claimant under the TMLA who is required to furnish an expert report. Accordingly, his failure to do so justified dismissal.

Citation: Valley Regional Med. Ctr. v. Skulemowski, 2022 WL 3092557 (Tex. App. Aug. 4, 2022).