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Monday, June 17, 2024

Suicide on the hands of health care providers, court rules in million-dollar case

State Court
Poissant

Poissant

HOUSTON (Legal Newsline) – A Texas appeals court has affirmed a $1.35 million judgment against health care providers involved in the treatment of a girl who eventually committed suicide.

The case involved the death of a girl known in court papers as A.W., who started her treatment at Pediatrics Cool Care in Ennis in 2010. Her parents sued Dr. Jose Salguero, the facility’s lead physician, as well as a doctor who supervised other staff, a nurse practitioner and a physician’s assistant.

A.W.’s treatment came as a result of several different ailments, including acne, vomiting and migraine headaches. Depression was also a factor.

Despite not performing a detailed psychiatric work-up, one of the health care providers diagnosed A.W. with depressive disorder and prescribed a 30-day supply of the antidepressant Celexa, which comes with a “black box” warning label that says its side effects include suicidal ideation.

An error at PCC resulted in A.W. getting 120 days of Celexa, which was more than what physician’s assistant Jenelle Robinson could prescribe. It happened because PCC did not have a policy for PAs or nurse practitioners to review medical records after they were transcribed to a company in New Mexico.

It was disputed whether Robinson gave A.W. the names of area counselors or recommended she see one.

In July 2012, A.W.’s mom asked for a refill of the Celexa. A medical assistant fulfilled that request, even though she did not have permission from her supervisors to do so. In August, A.W. was found unresponsive in her room.

She had overdosed on Benadryl and her cause of death was suicide. The lawsuit followed in Ellis County.

A jury awarded $7.635 million to A.W.’s parents but the trial judge cut the non-economic damages to $250,000, pursuant to state law, for a total verdict of $1.35 million. All assignments of error were rejected by the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals.

Notably, the defendants said the court shouldn’t have allowed the plaintiffs’ expert, Dr. Fred Moss, to testify that the defendants failed three times to conduct an appropriate inquiry into the cause of A.W.’s depression.

“If questions had been asked and answered, they would have created pathways towards treatment options that would be made available and would have prevented her from committing suicide,” Judge Meg Poissant wrote.

“Dr. Moss went on to discuss the lack of proper follow-up treatment, including not requiring any follow-up appointments while continuing to fill and refill a Blackbox prescription, essentially leaving A.W. without medical supervision after March 1, 2012.

“Here, the evidence, and the inferences the jury could derive from the evidence, are factually sufficient to support the jury’s findings on causation.”

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