Texas Doctor Wins Med Mal Lawsuit - Rattlesnake Envenomation

Basic Story: 13 year old girl walks dog in yard and is bitten by rattlesnake. Patient to local hospital ER where doctor follows standard protocol for envenomation treatment. Anti-venom not given immediately per protocol and parents file suit alleging delayed anti-venom caused "suffering" and "lasting pain and impairment". Parents sued the doctor and manufacturer of CroFab.
Patient also transferred to another hospital and discharged one day later. The plaintiff's expert may be recognized by some readers - Dr. Benjamin Abo from Florida and who appears on "Kings of Pain" show on the History Channel.

The hospital is Austin Seton Medical Center in the national Ascension System and which enjoys an "A" rating by the Leapfrog group. It is a Level I Stroke Center and a Level IV Trauma Center with 391 beds.
The treating physician was Dr. Kristi Marsillo who is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine physician.

October 5, 2023
Texas Supreme Court Case Filing Summary:
https://www.txcourts.gov/supreme/cas...llo-v-dunnick/

January 18, 2024
Texas Legal Newsline Report of Supreme Court Finding for the doctor:
https://legalnewsline.com/stories/65...akebite-victim

There are additional reports online about this case. Some include a picture of the patient's foot. Herpers may not be aware there are standard hospital and clinical protocols for treatment of envenomation and administering anti-venom as brought out in the Supreme Court ruling.

Baseless lawsuit and waste of taxpayer's money. I hope physician/hospital counter sues for legal costs/damage to reputation to stop this type of nonsense. Every other commercial on TV these days is some personal injury attorney. This is the reason our premiums for health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, etc.. are outrageous in this country.

Agree. A totally baseless suit. The defense costs indeed end up on the expense ledger of the hospital and are then passed on to employers and consumers resulting in higher health insurance premiums. The plaintiff attorneys were likely on contingency so their costs are sunk in the law firm. I am well aware of the costs to employ "expert" physicians. Dr Abo's costs would be quite high and absorbed by the plaintiff law firm. Good the Texas Supreme Court found his "expertise" to not be compelling. Hollywood did not help this case. Baseless lawsuits in medicine may (may) also cause future additional unwarranted costs because of excess caution from a previous lawsuit. Hopefully this proper conclusion by the TX Supreme Court causes the law firm to be less inclined to file frivolous lawsuits.