CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Legal Newsline) – An autopsy is not medical care, a Texas court has ruled in allowing a lawsuit over the mysterious death of a 13-year-old boy to continue against a forensic pathologist working in Hidalgo County.
That pathologist, Norma Jean Farley, had successfully argued in the trial court that plaintiffs suing her over the investigation into the death of Gabriel Miranda Jr. had failed to produce a medical expert report in the time period required for medical malpractice lawsuits.
But the Thirteenth District Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 6 that Miranda’s parents were not subject to med-mal rules because they did not allege a departure from accepted standards of “medical care, health care, or professional or administrative services directly related to health care.”
“Gabriel was never a ‘patient’ of Farley or of any other physician or health care provider, and there were no other ‘patients’ whose care is related to appellants’ claims, directly or indirectly,” Chief Justice Dori Contreras wrote.
“Appellants allege that Farley erred in her determination of Gabriel’s manner of death, but they do not allege that she did so for the purpose of concealing ‘deficient pre-mortem health care.’”
Miranda, who in 2016 was a 13-year-old student at Vernon Middle School, died after falling out of the emergency door exit of a school bus during a field trip.
His parents and siblings sued many individuals and entities, alleging on Farley’s part that she wrongfully determined Miranda had committed suicide and accused others of covering up wrongdoing. Video surveillance of the bus had failed, showing only a blank screen until after the incident.
The complaint alleged that audio from the bus ride was available but the defendants’ barely analyzed it. More allegations said not all witnesses were questioned and Edinburg police made a copy of surveillance from a business near the scene instead of taking the original footage into custody.
The complaint said witnesses saw Miranda fall out of the door, not jump. The family sought a court order preventing the defendants from declaring publicly or privately that Miranda was depressed or committed suicide and seeks damages from Farley for intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation.