Ascension Seton Hays Malpractice Lawyer

Trial-Ready Hospital Negligence Attorneys for Ascension Seton Hays Patients and Families

The Types of Ascension Seton Hays Lawsuits Our Hospital Malpractice Attorneys Handle

Hastings Law Firm handles Ascension Seton Hays lawsuits in Kyle, Texas, over trauma and emergency care, labor and delivery, newborn care, and surgery. Our hospital malpractice lawyers build each of these claims from the complete chart and from independent medical experts who show what careful care required.

The cases we see most often at a trauma center like Ascension Seton Hays include:

• Trauma and emergency care errors. After a crash or fall, a fracture, spinal injury, head injury or internal bleed can be missed on a scan, or the scan never ordered. Stroke signs can go unrecognized in time, or a patient can be sent home before a dangerous condition is ruled out, and lost time can mean a lasting disability. Our Texas emergency room malpractice attorneys trace each decision through the triage notes, imaging reports and orders.
• Labor, delivery and newborn care errors. Fetal distress can go unanswered, a C-section can come too late, or a high-risk pregnancy or obstetric emergency can be poorly managed. A newborn’s breathing, blood sugar or infection problem can also be missed in the nursery or NICU, a concern our pediatric malpractice lawyers in Austin examine closely. An injury at birth can shape a child’s life, and our Austin birth injury attorneys read the fetal monitoring strips against the labor record.
• Surgical errors, especially in trauma-related orthopedic, spine and neurological surgery. A nerve, the spinal cord or a blood vessel can be injured, or an operation can be done at the wrong level or site. Bleeding, infection, pressure building inside a limb, or an anesthesia or medication error can go uncaught when nurse monitoring lapses, bringing more surgery and additional recovery time. Our Austin surgical error lawyers compare the operative report with the anesthesia and recovery records.

While these are common claim types, our hospital malpractice attorneys handle any valid medical negligence case that arises at this hospital.

About Ascension Seton Hays, a Level II Trauma Center on Kyle Parkway

Ascension Seton Hays is an Ascension Seton hospital at 6001 Kyle Pkwy in Kyle, Texas, in Hays County, with 24/7 emergency care. Ascension describes itself as a non-profit and Catholic health system. The hospital’s campus page lists heart and vascular health, and musculoskeletal, plastic and neurological surgical care.

The hospital says it is certified as a Level II trauma center, and the state’s trauma facility roster lists it as a Major (Level II) trauma facility. Its emergency department names trauma surgeons and care for complex fractures, spine injuries and brain injuries. Ascension Seton Hays also says it is certified as a primary stroke center.

For mothers and babies, the maternity center lists labor, delivery and postpartum care, 24/7 obstetric emergency care, maternal-fetal medicine and neonatal specialty care. It names a Level II NICU, and the Texas Department of State Health Services neonatal roster lists the hospital at Special Care (Level II). The hospital also says Dell Children’s NICU care is provided on its campus.

Our Kyle medical malpractice lawyers also handle claims over care elsewhere in the city. Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin and Dell Children’s Medical Center are separate Austin hospitals in the Ascension Seton system, each with its own page. CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital San Marcos is a separate hospital in nearby San Marcos with its own page as well.

Can You File a Lawsuit Against Ascension Seton Hays, the Doctor, or Both?

A lawsuit can name Ascension Seton Hays, a physician who treated a patient there, or both, depending on which clinician’s care was negligent and who employed that clinician. Under Baptist Memorial Hospital System v. Sampson, a hospital can be held responsible for negligence by a nurse or other employee working within the scope of the job.

A physician the hospital does not employ answers for their own treatment. Ascension Seton Hays would share responsibility for that physician only if the family proves all three elements of what courts call ostensible agency. The patient reasonably believed the physician worked for the hospital, the hospital created or knowingly allowed that belief, and the patient justifiably relied on it.

The trauma surgeon, obstetrician and anesthesiologist may each work for a different employer. The records and bills help show which of them a lawsuit against Ascension Seton Hays should name. Sorting that out is the first job for any lawyer to sue a hospital, and our Austin hospital malpractice lawyers handle it at the outset.

A claim like this is generally a health care liability claim under Chapter 74 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. It generally requires a qualified expert’s report within 120 days after each defendant files an answer. Before the suit is filed, a written notice and a signed authorization must go to each provider.

Medicine carries risk, and a bad outcome is not always negligence. When an injury was preventable, the providers responsible should be held accountable.

What Does a Family Sign and Send Before Filing a Claim Over Care at Ascension Seton Hays?

Before suing over care at Ascension Seton Hays, a family must give each physician or health care provider written notice of the claim at least 60 days ahead. Section 74.051 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code requires that notice by certified mail, return receipt requested. The notice must carry a signed medical authorization in the exact form Section 74.052 sets out.

The authorization is the form the family actually signs. It authorizes the release of health information and billing records from the providers who treated the patient for the claimed injuries. It also reaches providers who treated the patient in the five years before.

The family can list providers whose records it contends are not relevant, with the dates to withhold. By initialing, it can also exclude HIV and AIDS results or treatment, drug or alcohol treatment, mental health records, and genetic information.

A patient who is able signs for themselves, and anyone signing on the patient’s behalf describes their authority on the form. When the patient has died or is not legally competent, Section 74.051(e) accepts a records request carrying an authorization signed by a parent, spouse or adult child.

Leaving the authorization out has a real cost. Under Section 74.052(a), all further proceedings against a provider that received notice without it are put on hold until 60 days after that provider receives the form. Separately, Section 74.051(d) lets each party obtain complete and unaltered copies of the medical records from any other party within 45 days of a written request.

Notice given as the statute provides also tolls the limitations period through the 75th day after it is given, for all parties and potential parties. A notice that misses the statute’s terms may not earn that protection.

A trauma admission or a delivery at Ascension Seton Hays can involve many providers, from emergency physicians to the NICU team. Each provider a claim names needs its own notice, so we identify every one from the chart, prepare each notice and authorization correctly, and send them early.

How We Work With Injured Ascension Seton Hays Patients and Families

Hastings Law Firm works with Ascension Seton Hays patients and families in Kyle, Texas, on hospital malpractice claims from the first call through settlement or trial. That call goes to a member of our intake team, and a relative can make it for a patient who cannot. We work to make sure you are heard, since what you describe is the starting point of our review.

We then request the complete medical records on your behalf. Our attorneys and medical professionals read the trauma, emergency, imaging, lab and stroke care records, fetal monitoring strips, labor and delivery records, and NICU notes. We add the operative and anesthesia records, nursing notes, medication records, admission, discharge and transfer records, and itemized bills. Together those records show each clinician’s name and role.

If our hospital negligence lawyers take your case, every exchange with the hospital, its insurer and its attorneys goes through us. Our board-certified patient advocates keep you informed as developments arise and answer your questions in plain terms. Our hospital malpractice attorneys seek a settlement that matches the full cost of the harm to your family. When an offer does not measure up, we take the case before a jury.

If You or a Loved One Were Injured at Ascension Seton Hays, Speak With Our Medical Attorneys Today

Hastings Law Firm’s hospital malpractice lawyers represent patients and families in Kyle, Texas, in claims over care at Ascension Seton Hays. We perform a free case review to find out whether you have a valid claim and which providers took part in the care.

Our team is here for you. Everything you share with us is kept confidential, and there is no fee unless we win. Let us help you find the answers you deserve.