Willow SNF, LLC d/b/a Willow Rehab & Nursing and Advanced HCS, LLC v. Anyonna Hardiman, On Behalf of Jessie Mae Turner (No. 12-23-00225-CV; January 24, 2024) arose from injuries allegedly sustained by Turner while a resident of Willow. Turner suffered from a number of conditions, including reduced mobility, a history of falling, hypertension, dysphagis, and stomach and vision problems. Plaintiff sued Willow for negligence, alleging that, with knowledge of Turner’s comorbidities, Willow neglected her, failed to provide appropriate care and supervision, failure to adequantely train and supervise staff, and, in a number of ways, failed to provide adequately staffing levels to maintain the required standard of care for Turner and other residents in the facility. Plaintiff served an expert report by a physician who treated nursing home residents on an outpatient basis for a variety of conditions, including those Plaintiff complained of, including urinary tract infections, pressure sores, and fractures from falling. Defendant moved to dismiss, arguing that Plaintiff did not comply with expert report requirement because the expert was not qualified because he did not practice in a nursing home setting and was trained as a pediatrician, not a geriatric specialist. The trial court denied the motion to dismiss. Defendant appealed.
In an opinion by Chief Justice Worthen, the court of appeals affirmed. The question came down to whether Plaintiff’s expert had the requisite qualifications to opine as to Plaintiff’s injuries, the applicable standard of care, and causation. According to the court, the question turned on the interpretation of § 74.351(r)(50(C), which sets out the those qualifications. Noting that the statute specifies that, when the defendant health care provider not an individual, the expert must simply be “practicing that type of the health care at the time the claim arose,” the issue became whether Plaintiff’s expert qualified under Texas Rules of Evidence 702. Rule 702 provides that an expert is qualified, among other things, if the expert has “substantial training or experience” in the area of health care that is relevant to the claim and “is actively practicing health care in rendering health care services relevant to the claim.”
Here the court concluded that, although the expert was trained as a pediatrician and did not practice in the nursing home itself, he nevertheless qualified under Rule 702. According to the affidavit, the expert claimed to spend 70% of his time treating adult and geriatric patients and to treat many residents of nursing homes on an outpatient basis. He testified to having extensive practice experience treating his patients for types of conditions relevant to the claim, to have knowledge of the appropriate standard of care for caring for patients with those conditions, and to have written care and treatment orders for patients in Turner’s condition, including fall prevention and staffing requirements. Based on these qualifications, the court concluded that the expert’s opinion as to the nursing home’s breach of the standard of care and causation were sufficient to meet the requirements of § 74.351.
