Will medical malpractice claims for COVID-19 treatment be supported by “standards of care” in Houston Texas?

Medical malpractice stems from medical errors, mistakes, or wrongful acts undertaken by a healthcare provider in the professional treatment of another individual that lead to complications and sometimes wrongful death situations.  While the laws may be slightly different in each state, they are all based on claims of negligence.  In order to prove negligence in medical malpractice in the state of Texas, a healthcare provider must breach their duty of care, or provide treatment that is below the medical community’s standard of care for a specific treatment or procedure, often monitored by quality assurance outcome assessments grouping patients by similar health, age, and pre-existing conditions for a specific methodology in treatment plans.

COVID-19 medical malpractice.

Many questions surrounding medical malpractice have been floating around since the introduction of COVID-19 to the United States in lieu of the related plethora of deaths.  The questions that must be answered for a successful legal outcome include:

• An existing professional relationship between a healthcare provider and a patient,
• A provision of care that falls below the accepted medical standard of care based on similar treatment modalities and patient outcomes – a breach of the standard of care resulting in medical negligence,
• A direct connection between the care provided and the harm to the patient due to the perceived medical negligence,
• A measurable damage, or quantifiable negative impacts to a patient’s life.

Some legal professionals are making the stance to recommend against litigation regarding COVID-19 negative health outcomes, because they do not feel that front line providers should be penalized for treating individuals when there was no set “standard of care” for this new virus.  Others will guide grieving families of lost relatives along the normal path toward litigation, which includes identifying measurable damages and acting within a specific timeframe.  Consulting with a professional experienced medical malpractice attorney in Texas is the prudent choice, to have your individual case reviewed before deciding to move forward with a personal injury medical malpractice or wrongful death claim against a healthcare provider.

Time to file a legal action.

Under Texas law, an individual and/or a loved one of a person who died as a direct result of medical malpractice, has two years to file a legal claim in court (with some exceptions if the victim is a minor).  The patient suffering an injury must identify the clock starting date as the date the injury occurred, but if they cannot pinpoint a specific date, the clock starts running when the treatment was completed by the healthcare professional.

Damages.

Texas medical malpractice claims include economic, non-economic and sometimes punitive damages.  There are limitations to the amount of money a victim can be awarded in the state of Texas resulting from medical malpractice.  They are up to $250,000 for non-economic damages for each individual health care provider and for each hospital up to a total of $500,000 when there is more than one treating hospital with a cap of $250,000 individually and $750,000 in total.  These funds compensate for present and future financial losses; and pain and suffering including the loss of companionship.  Resolutions of medical malpractice cases can take anywhere from a few months to years depending on the amount of discovery necessary to prove negligence against a medical standard of care.  Contact experienced Houston area attorneys who have a successful track record at The Blizzard Law Firm for direction on your potential claim and settlement possibilities for medical malpractice during the treatment of COVID-19.

Blizzard Law, PLLC

 Call (800) 349-0127 for a Free Consultation.

5020 Montrose Boulevard

Houston, Texas 77006

[email protected]

Sources:

Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code, Section 74. 303 (a)

https://www.texmed.org/StatuteOfLimitations/

Tex. Civ. Prac. &Rem. Code, Section 74.251 (a)