Roberts v. Williamson

111 S.W.3d 113 (2003)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The day after her birth, Courtnie began suffering from severe acidosis. D began to treat her but a ventilator was not functioning, and Courtnie did not receive needed oxygen for several minutes. A colleague suggested that sodium bicarbonate should be administered to counteract Courtnie's worsening acidosis. Two hours later, after consulting with a neonatologist in Shreveport, D followed this advice, and Courtnie began to improve. Courtnie now has a permanent shunt implanted in her skull to drain fluids to her abdomen. She suffers from a weakened left side, requires braces to walk, has significant scarring, and is developmentally delayed. Ps, the parents, sued Ds. They contend that the malfunctioning ventilator, the delay in administering sodium bicarbonate, and the failure to immediately transfer Courtnie to a better-equipped hospital, combined to proximately cause Courtnie's injuries. A board-certified pediatrician testified that D was negligent in delaying Courtnie's transfer to a hospital equipped to treat her condition and in failing to administer sodium bicarbonate sooner. D's negligence proximately caused Courtnie to suffer from mental retardation, anti-social behavior, and hemiplegia, a partial paralysis of one side of body caused by an injury to the brain. The jury awarded $3,010,001 in damages, including $75,000 to P for past loss of filial consortium and one dollar for future loss thereof. The trial court rendered judgment on the verdict, ordering Dr. Roberts to pay $451,500.15, or 15 percent of the entire award, with no deduction for the settlements. D appealed. The Court of Appeals determined that if there was child-parent consortium, there must be parent child as well. D appealed: Texas law does not permit a parent to recover for loss of consortium for non-fatal injuries to a child.