Lawsuits and Texas Medical Board investigations are an unfortunate consequence of practicing medicine. Assisting the healthcare provider in taking action to lower the risk of a lawsuit or a medical board investigation is one of the services our experienced lawyers offer. Whether in the formulation of policies, guidance with a difficult patient situation, or dealing with a crisis, we are prepared to step in early to provide the healthcare provider every advantage.

Our Health Law Liability practice offers the collective experience of attorneys who have defended hundreds of legally and medically complex cases and assisted many physicians who have received a worrisome inquiry from the Texas Medical Board. We have represented physicians from Houston's two medical schools and major hospital institutions in our city. We have handled cases involving nearly every medical specialty and understand and develop complex causation issues, as well as standard of care defenses. While we prefer to get a case dismissed, we have taken dozens of medical cases to trial resulting in successful defense verdicts. We also represent hospitals, individual physicians and group practices faced with medical staff and peer review issues. We deal with commercial, employment and contract disputes arising from the business of providing healthcare. If it is a potential or existing problem in the business of healthcare, our experienced lawyers are prepared to provide the best solution from start to finish.

Members of the Firm that concentrate on Health Law Liability cases include Suzan Cardwell, Scott Alford, LaVerne Chang, Emma Canales Mata and Randy Bruchmiller.

• A 12-year-old boy, sent home from the emergency room, died twenty-four hours after his release. The E.R. nurse advised the emergency room physician on duty of the boy's lab results. She provided the results of the wrong patient. This was discovered after the child's death. FCJ obtained a verdict for the hospital based upon a causation defense.
• A child with respiratory symptoms was discharged from the E.R. only to return within hours still in distress. ICU admission, intubation, and transfer ensued, but the child sustained hypoxic brain injury. At the trial, there were two versions of the first emergency room chart; one indicating good vital signs and the other with none. In the suit, the family claimed that the infant was in severe respiratory distress and should have been hospitalized on the first visit. The emergency room physician stood accused of negligence and altering the chart. FCJ obtained a defense verdict for the physician.
• A 50-year-old female patient presented to the E.R. with bilateral armpit pain. Her EKG showed acute changes. It was late and the emergency room physician missed the changes. The patient was sent home. The patient died from an MI two weeks later. The autopsy revealed an old MI consistent with the timing of the E.R. visit. No medical expert could be found to support not hospitalizing the patient at the time of her E.R. visit. FCJ presented a defense explaining that a mistake can occur even in the exercise of reasonable care. The verdict was in favor of the physician.
• In a case alleging a delivering O.B. should have performed an emergency c-section, the internal fetal monitor strip revealed no beat-to-beat variability. There was thick meconium. Attempts at a scalp pH were unsuccessful. For more than an hour, the physician pondered whether to c-section. Vaginal birth interceded. A severely brain damaged infant was born. At trial, the mother, who was an R.N. with professional delivery experience, claimed she begged for the physician to do a c-section. The verdict was for the physician.
• A baby boy, hospitalized for dehydration, developed compartment syndrome as a result of an IV infiltration. The child's foot was severely injured, requiring fasciotomies and plastic surgery. The plaintiffs asserted claims of negligence and abandonment against the pediatrician. The verdict was for the defendant physician.