Background
Sandra Larson, proceeding pro se, sued Medical City Hospital Fort Worth and a physician on June 21, 2024, over wound care provided to her husband during an April 2022 hospitalization. She alleged that inadequately trained staff improperly used a wound vacuum, worsening his infection and enlarging his wound. The physician was dismissed from the case and was not a party to the appeal.
Medical City moved for traditional summary judgment under the Texas Medical Liability Act’s two-year statute of limitations. The evidence showed that Larson’s husband was discharged on April 22, 2022, making that the latest possible date on which the hospital’s allegedly negligent treatment could have occurred. Larson responded that a continuous course of treatment lasted until June 2022, but the trial court granted Medical City’s motion and dismissed her claims with prejudice.
The Court’s Holding
The Second Court of Appeals affirmed. Because Larson’s allegations concerned improper wound-vac treatment during the Medical City hospitalization, the latest possible accrual date was the April 22, 2022 discharge date. She therefore had to sue by April 22, 2024. Her June 21, 2024 filing was almost two months late, and no presuit notice had tolled the limitations period.
The court held that Larson could not rely on fraudulent concealment to avoid summary judgment because she had not pleaded or raised that defense in her written response to Medical City’s motion. The argument was therefore waived. The court added that, even absent waiver, the summary-judgment evidence did not show that Medical City actually knew a wrong had occurred and acted with a fixed purpose to conceal it. Any delay or incompleteness in producing medical records, without more, did not establish fraudulent concealment.
Key Takeaways
- A Texas health care liability claim must be filed within two years of the ascertainable tort date; when the alleged negligence occurred during a hospitalization, the discharge date may serve as the latest possible accrual date.
- A claimant opposing limitations-based summary judgment must expressly raise fraudulent concealment in the trial court and produce evidence supporting each element.
- Delayed or incomplete production of medical records alone does not establish actual knowledge of wrongdoing or a fixed purpose to conceal it.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the strict operation of the Texas Medical Liability Act’s limitations period and the importance of preserving tolling and avoidance arguments at the summary-judgment stage. An appellate court will not consider a fraudulent-concealment theory first presented on appeal or documents attached to an appellate brief that are outside the record.