Harris Methodist Fort Worth v. Ollie

In Harris Methodist Fort Worth v. Ollie, 270 S.W.3d 720, 726-27 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 2008, pet. filed), the court held that a hospital patient's premises liability claim based on her fall on a "slippery wet floor" was not a health care liability claim because the acts of cleaning the floor and failing to warn the patient of its slippery condition were not inseparable from the rendition of medical services and the accepted standards of safety within the health care industry. In Harris Methodist Fort Worth v. Ollie, 342 S.W.3d 525 (Tex. 2011), a hospital patient slipped and fell on a wet bathroom floor during post-operative confinement. Id. at 525. The court characterized Ollie's claim as one that "centers on the failure of the hospital to act with a proper degree of care to furnish a dry floor, warn her of the hazards of a wet bathroom floor, or some similar failure to act." Id. at 527. Because Ollie's action was "a safety claim directly related to services meeting her fundamental needs as a patient," it was a health care liability claim. Id.