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Katy hospital fined for unethical behavior
Court upholds $250,000 sanction in wrongful death lawsuit
By Tracy Dang
Times Managing Editor
Houston’s 1st Court of Appeals upheld a Harris County judge’s $250,0000 sanction against a Katy hospital for withholding evidence in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of former state champion track coach Jerry Carswell.
According to the opinion filed, Justices Tim Taft and Evelyn Keyes ruled Dec. 31 that the Christus St. Catherine Hospital did not demonstrate “a clear abuse of discretion by the trial court and the lack of adequate remedy by appeal.” Justice Elsa Acala dissented the ruling.
Carswell was a track coach at La Porte and Katy High Schools before he became the head boys track coach at Langham Creek High School from 1988-98. The team won the state championship in 1997.
He was admitted to Christus St. Catherine in January 2004 for treatment of kidney stones but died after he was administered narcotics injections.
“Coach Carswell was a man in good health who spent years building up a good reputation,” said Carl Shaw, an attorney representing Carswell’s widow Linda. “The only thing he had was a kidney stone and they found a spot on his kidney that was being tested cancerous. But it was a confined spot. It did not kill him. Nobody has said he has died as a result of having a spot on his kidney.
“One of the fundamental principles is you don’t go to a hospital to die. You do it to get better. Narcotics have positive side effects and negative side effects. One of the negative side effects is it puts your central nervous system to sleep. (The hospital) let a licensed vocational nurse that didn’t have credentials monitor him, and he did not wake up.”
But what started as a wrongful death lawsuit ended up being something more.
Linda Carswell is also suing for a breach of contract to how her husband was treated after he died.
“It started she was suing to get information to find out the cause of her husband’s death because nobody knew,” Shaw said. “She found out probably two or three years later in the deposition of a pathologist that testified he had retrained the heart.”
Shaw said Carswell’s heart was removed during the autopsy, and the hospital claims it is being kept in the laboratory of a former Christus facility now known as HPA St. Joseph’s.
Even though Texas law caps a wrongful death lawsuit at $250,000 each up to two institutions and another $250,000 per doctor for “soft damages,” the family can be awarded more for the loss of income, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract, as well as others.
“After he died, they engaged in a conspiracy to cover up why he died through the autopsy,” Shaw said. “So they broke their fiduciary duty when she was grieving and wanting to know.”
Christus St. Catherine could appeal the ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, but the Carswell family may take it further.
“My client is going to press for a trial,” Shaw said. “We want to get this case out in front of all the people where they can see and hear what these companies are doing.
"We have people in serious power positions that decided they get to cover up their errors, and people like Mrs. Carswell that doesn’t have the heart and resources to challenge.”
The Katy Times was unable to reach a spokesperson from Christus St. Catherine for comment.
According to the opinion filed, Justices Tim Taft and Evelyn Keyes ruled Dec. 31 that the Christus St. Catherine Hospital did not demonstrate “a clear abuse of discretion by the trial court and the lack of adequate remedy by appeal.” Justice Elsa Acala dissented the ruling.
Carswell was a track coach at La Porte and Katy High Schools before he became the head boys track coach at Langham Creek High School from 1988-98. The team won the state championship in 1997.
He was admitted to Christus St. Catherine in January 2004 for treatment of kidney stones but died after he was administered narcotics injections.
“Coach Carswell was a man in good health who spent years building up a good reputation,” said Carl Shaw, an attorney representing Carswell’s widow Linda. “The only thing he had was a kidney stone and they found a spot on his kidney that was being tested cancerous. But it was a confined spot. It did not kill him. Nobody has said he has died as a result of having a spot on his kidney.
“One of the fundamental principles is you don’t go to a hospital to die. You do it to get better. Narcotics have positive side effects and negative side effects. One of the negative side effects is it puts your central nervous system to sleep. (The hospital) let a licensed vocational nurse that didn’t have credentials monitor him, and he did not wake up.”
But what started as a wrongful death lawsuit ended up being something more.
Linda Carswell is also suing for a breach of contract to how her husband was treated after he died.
“It started she was suing to get information to find out the cause of her husband’s death because nobody knew,” Shaw said. “She found out probably two or three years later in the deposition of a pathologist that testified he had retrained the heart.”
Shaw said Carswell’s heart was removed during the autopsy, and the hospital claims it is being kept in the laboratory of a former Christus facility now known as HPA St. Joseph’s.
Even though Texas law caps a wrongful death lawsuit at $250,000 each up to two institutions and another $250,000 per doctor for “soft damages,” the family can be awarded more for the loss of income, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract, as well as others.
“After he died, they engaged in a conspiracy to cover up why he died through the autopsy,” Shaw said. “So they broke their fiduciary duty when she was grieving and wanting to know.”
Christus St. Catherine could appeal the ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, but the Carswell family may take it further.
“My client is going to press for a trial,” Shaw said. “We want to get this case out in front of all the people where they can see and hear what these companies are doing.
"We have people in serious power positions that decided they get to cover up their errors, and people like Mrs. Carswell that doesn’t have the heart and resources to challenge.”
The Katy Times was unable to reach a spokesperson from Christus St. Catherine for comment.
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Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of katytimes.com.
KatyGT wrote on Jan 7, 2009 2:38 PM:
" Makes sense to me. If you read the article, it was a the ruling of the appeals judges that the hospital or hospital party did not show the original court (the trial court) abused their power and they have no real grounds to appeal. "
Bill wrote on Jan 7, 2009 3:22 PM:
" Ok, lets stir it up. My wife and I have an agreement. It goes something like this: Anywhere but Christus St. Catherine. I do not care how much pain I am in. My mother in law has been there a couple of times. Terrible place to be sick. Thank God for Memorial Hermann came to Katy. And with Tx. Childrens and Methodist building, My guess is they wont be around long. "
Denise Lopez wrote on Jan 7, 2009 8:53 PM:
" My mother spent 3 weeks in this hospital last year. She died because she was too obese to fit in their machines to diagnose her properly. We still don't know exactly what was wrong with her. The hospital and the doctors never even tried to send her somewhere she could be accomadated. They just kept sucking up her medicare benefits and guessing at the diagnosis. "
hdjjdjlls wrote on Jan 8, 2009 4:44 PM:
" hey jennifer maybe you should proofread your typing because last time i checked "before" was not spelled bfore. "
Slightly Sassy wrote on Jan 8, 2009 11:39 PM:
" Well in their defense, my daughter almost died in the ambulance on the way to this hospital and they saved her life, I am forever grateful to their staff of nurses and their doctors.
So I guess it's a matter of opinion is some cases. "
So I guess it's a matter of opinion is some cases. "
Graduate nurse wrote on Jan 9, 2009 8:10 AM:
" Dear Ms. Dang,
Thank you very much for your article on the sanction against Christus St. Catherine. The story has importance for many of us in the surrounding community for various reasons that to discuss may appear as libel. There certainly wasn't any surprise in the wrong doing. What is interesting to registered nurses is Christus St. Catherine decided a few years back to restructure their nursing staff and have a core staff of LVNs supervised by a RN. Did that restructuring take place? If so, are the LVNs truly being supervised by a RN to perform certain duties as required by the Texas Board of Nursing. Interesting.. As a recent graduate nurse, I will be interested in seeing how this case develops.
Thank you again.
Graduate nurse
Katy, Texas "
Thank you very much for your article on the sanction against Christus St. Catherine. The story has importance for many of us in the surrounding community for various reasons that to discuss may appear as libel. There certainly wasn't any surprise in the wrong doing. What is interesting to registered nurses is Christus St. Catherine decided a few years back to restructure their nursing staff and have a core staff of LVNs supervised by a RN. Did that restructuring take place? If so, are the LVNs truly being supervised by a RN to perform certain duties as required by the Texas Board of Nursing. Interesting.. As a recent graduate nurse, I will be interested in seeing how this case develops.
Thank you again.
Graduate nurse
Katy, Texas "
Katherine wrote on Jan 9, 2009 8:14 PM:
" My daughter has had two surgeries @ Christus St. Catherine's in the past 4 months. The hospital was the best I have ever been to. From the Doctors to the nursing staff it was a wonderful experience during a difficult time. I would never use another hospital. "
ToniNorris wrote on Jan 9, 2009 11:41 PM:
" My parent was at St. Christus this month in CCU and the morning after he was having trouble breathing with a heart rate of 160 he was sent home. They needed the bed! A nurse was even confused on why they sent him home so weak and in distress. Don't even take your dog to this hospital! "
Glenda Mudd wrote on Jan 12, 2009 1:11 PM:
" I as in Christus St. Catherine for more than 17 days. with bacterial pneumonia. I was quite ill and had it not been for the excellent care I received from the staff at this fine hospital, I am sure I would be dead and would not be responding to these tacky tirades! I feel very fortunate that I was cared for by the staff at this hospital and am grateful to everyone at the hospital. Mistakes happen - it's tragic and unfortunate, but you cannot blame the entire hospital for an error made by one. "
Sherry wrote on Jan 16, 2009 4:10 PM:
" Every hospital has "issues", but I think the main problem is that the old "Katy people" think that ONLY Katy Hospital is good enough. I bet that when all these other new hospital open, you will still hear them being bad-mouthed. "
Beverly wrote on Mar 15, 2009 1:25 PM:
" I was in Christus in June of 2001, I was rushed there about a week or so after having my son due to having a high fever. Based on preconceived notions of Katy Hospital I thought Christus would be the better choice, but was I mistaken. While the hospital decor is great and the room was nice, the service and the ability of the staff was the worst I had ever seen. A nurse attempted to give me an IV, but instead she infiltrated my hand. This caused my hand to double in size and a continous burning. I consistently told every nurse that came to check on me it was hurting and burning and they consistently ignored that there was a problem. This was during Tropical Storm Allison, which meant it was several days before my husband could get to me, before there was a staff change and before a doctor could get to me. Eventually, a new nurse came on duty and saw my hand, she immediately called a nurse from icu/ccu to come and they finally helped me. I was never told what caused my fever or infection. I am just greatful God spared and protected me. In closing, an acquaintance of mine had a relative go in over the weekend due to high fever, and the lady died at the hospital within the next day. I wish I could believe these were isolated incidents but I don't. "
BXXS wrote on Feb 9, 2010 3:27 PM:
" This hospital is filled with management issues. Highly UNQUALIFIED individuals are hired to manage the business and as a result decision making is flawed. In a healthcare setting poor decision is detrimental to successful treatments and in-turn success of the business. Training of staff as a core requirement is not appreciated. The CNO/Managers expects all nurses/staff to be at the same level when hired but this is impossible when we have nurses with different level of experience. This branch needs to embrace learning. Knuckle heads- wake up! Quality staff is detrimental to your business. If you fail to provide quality staffing you end up with a quantity issue; you have a bunch of under qualified individuals trying to treat the sick. You will also end up with a financial issue since you are sacrificing quality for quantity- And you can see this with the current law suit(s). So invest some time and money into your workforce- teach them how to become better nurses, lab tech, rad tech, doctors… Teach them what customer service means. Build a better corporate culture. You must remember that even though your organization is a NPO, but it must operate as a for-profit. Your mission and survival depends on it. An BTW the $400 you charged me for using your building on an emergency visit that took 1hr, you aint getting it! "
Jennifer wrote on Jan 7, 2009 2:12 PM: