By James Girards.
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals handed the Girards Law Firm another victory in a tragic case involving failure to diagnose of breast cancer. This case is just the latest in the seemingly endless trail of appellate cases involving Texas' requirement of filing expert reports before the case can proceed. What started out as a seemingly common sense rule - that each medical malpractice case should be meritorious as shown by a short letter from an expert stating as much - immediately grew to what it was intended by the insurance companies to be all along: a serious roadblock for anyone who dared to call out his or her doctor or hospital when a needless injury or death occurred. We wrote about this in a recent blog when the Waco Court of Appeals affirmed the Girards Law Firm on another expert report case. Here though, the insurance company lawyers actually claimed that in order for the case to be meritorious the breast cancer victim had to prove the exact details of the cancerous tumor - information which was unknown as a direct result of the doctor's failure to biopsy it. The Fort Worth Court of Appeals rejected that claim. You can read the Court of Appeals decision by clicking here. You can also read the appellate briefs by clicking here. As in all of these expert report cases, the bonus for the insurance company is they have delayed the case for many months even if they lose at the appellate level. This has grown into a cottage industry to benefit the insurance companies and their lawyers - and it works a great harm to injured women [in this case] and others injured or killed by hospitals. It will stop only when the legislature fixes the problem they created. If you'd like to help with that effort contact your legislator and ask him or her to stop the appeal option for expert reports. You can find your legislator by clicking here.
For more information or help on any medical malpractice case in Texas, Oklahoma, or Arkansas, contact the Girards Law Firm at one of our offices:
Dallas Office:
10000 N Central, Suite 400
Dallas, TX 75231
Phone: 214-346-9529
Arkansas office:
609 SW 8th Street, Suite 600
Bentonville, AR 72712
Phone: (501) 288-9529
Oklahoma Office:
1831 E 71st Street
Tulsa, OK 74136
Phone: 405-598-7825