When you are injured or suffer a complication due to medical negligence, an important question to ask is: how do you prove medical malpractice in Texas? A claimant generally must establish four basic elements: a health care provider owed a duty, the provider departed from the applicable standard of care, that departure caused the claimed injury, and legally compensable harm resulted.
Texas treats these claims as health care liability claims under Chapter 74 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. A poor medical outcome alone does not establish malpractice. Some patients experience complications or poor results even when appropriate care was provided. Texas also imposes a separate expert-report requirement after a health care liability lawsuit is filed.
The report must address the applicable standard of care, the manner in which it was breached, and the causal relationship between the breach and the claimed injury. Choose a seasoned Magnolia medical practice lawyer to prove a negligent medical provider’s liability and seek fair compensation for your injuries and losses.
A Duty Was Owed
A provider-patient relationship generally establishes the professional duty at issue in a medical malpractice claim. The provider’s obligations are measured against the applicable medical standard of care, not simply against what the patient expected to happen.
The existence of a provider relationship, however, does not establish negligence. A claimant must still prove that the provider’s conduct departed from the applicable standard and that the departure caused the claimed harm.
The Care Fell Below the Standard
What the Standard of Care Requires
The central question is what a reasonably prudent health care provider would have done under the same or similar circumstances. The standard is based on appropriate medical practice rather than hindsight or the patient’s expectation of a particular result.
A medical professional may make a decision that later produces an unfavorable result without necessarily violating the applicable standard of care. That is why medical malpractice claims require more than showing that treatment did not work as hoped.
How a Breach Can Occur
The alleged breach depends on the facts and the medical specialty involved. Examples can include failing to recognize and appropriately respond to a significant clinical finding, performing a procedure in a manner that departs from the applicable standard, or prescribing or administering medication contrary to the applicable standard of care.
Whether any particular act or omission constitutes a breach generally requires qualified medical testimony. The relevant expert must have the qualifications required by Chapter 74 for the opinions being offered.
Medical Records Are the Starting Point
A review of medical records can help identify what providers documented, what testing was ordered, what diagnoses were considered, what treatment was provided, and how the patient’s condition changed. Those records give a qualified expert the factual foundation needed to evaluate the care.
The Breach Caused the Harm
Substandard Care Is Not Enough
Causation is a separate requirement. Even when a provider’s conduct fell below the applicable standard of care, the claimant still must establish that the departure was a proximate cause of the injury or harm claimed.
This distinction can become difficult when the patient already had a serious illness. The question is not merely whether something should have been done differently. The evidence must address whether doing it differently would have changed the patient’s condition in a legally meaningful way.
A Delayed Diagnosis Example
Consider a patient whose cancer was diagnosed later than it should have been. Establishing that the diagnosis should have occurred sooner does not automatically establish causation.
The relevant medical question becomes what earlier diagnosis and treatment would reasonably have changed. An expert may need to address the disease’s progression, available treatment at the earlier point, the patient’s condition at that time, and whether earlier intervention would have altered the course of the illness.
The more complicated the underlying condition, the more important qualified medical testimony becomes. The causal connection cannot simply be assumed from the sequence of events.
Complications Can Make Causation Difficult
A patient may have suffered harm from the underlying disease, an unavoidable complication, the alleged negligent treatment, or a combination of factors. Separating those causes requires medical evidence rather than speculation.
You Suffered Real Damages
A medical malpractice claim also requires legally compensable harm. The nature and extent of the claimed damages depend on the evidence in the particular case.
- Additional treatment: Further medical care may be relevant when the claimed injury requires treatment beyond what otherwise would have been necessary.
- Permanent harm: Evidence may address lasting physical impairment, pain and suffering, or other continuing effects.
- Lost income: Medical evidence and employment records may become relevant when an injury affects the person’s ability to work.
- Death: A death caused by negligent care can give rise to wrongful death claims governed by the applicable Texas statutes.
The existence of an injury does not eliminate the need to prove the other elements. The claimed harm must be connected to the alleged breach.
The Expert Report Requirement
The 120-Day Deadline
Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 74.351 requires a claimant in a health care liability claim to serve one or more expert reports, along with each expert’s curriculum vitae, not later than the 120th day after the date each defendant’s original answer is filed. The statute allows the parties to extend that date by written agreement.
The report must provide a fair summary of the expert’s opinions regarding the applicable standard of care, the manner in which the care provided failed to meet that standard, and the causal relationship between that failure and the claimed injury, harm, or damages. The report requirement is therefore tied directly to the core elements of the claim.
What Happens When the Requirement Is Not Met
The statutory consequence is significant. On a defendant’s motion, the court must dismiss the claim against that defendant with prejudice when the required report has not been served within the applicable period, subject to the statute’s provisions concerning extensions and deficient reports. Section 74.351 also permits a court to grant a 30-day extension in certain circumstances when the report is timely served but found deficient.
That makes the expert-report requirement more than a procedural detail. It is an early requirement that can determine whether a health care liability claim proceeds to consideration of its merits.
Since 1995, Magnolia medical malpractice attorney John Ghezzi has strongly represented injured clients and fought for justice and fair compensation on their behalf. John’s formidable record of settlements and verdicts speaks for itself. Schedule a free consultation today and discuss your Texas medical malpractice claim directly with John.