Christus Spohn Health Sys. Corp. v. Sanchez

In Christus Spohn Health Sys. Corp. v. Sanchez, 299 S.W.3d 868, 873 (Tex. App.--Corpus Christi 2009, pet. denied), the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals held that the plaintiff's negligence claims against the hospital implicated "the standards of care and safety contemplated by Chapter 74, and directly related to its rendering of health care" to the plaintiff. 299 S.W.3d at 874. The court held: "Decisions regarding the protection of patients and the supervision and monitoring of staff involve professional judgment, and "it follows that proper staffing for the care and protection of patients is related to and part of the rendition of health care." Moreover, determining "the appropriate number, training, and certifications of medical professionals necessary to care for and protect patients in weakened conditions" requires health care expertise, which is but another indicator that staffing decisions are inseparable from the provision of health care. Thus, as here, when a patient is injured because of an alleged lapse in this professional decision-making, the lawsuit complaining of that injury is a health care liability claim." Id. at 875. The court concluded that the gravamen of the plaintiff's claim against the hospital was that it "breached the standards of care and safety owed to the plaintiff by failing to protect her from the allegedly assaultive conduct of its nursing staff" and that the complained-of conduct "was an inseparable part of the care provided to the plaintiff as a patient." Id. Thus, the court concluded that the plaintiff's claims against the hospital were health care liability claims. Id.