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HCRA of Texas11/3/2005
sicians documented two stage three decubitis ulcers on Lloyd's back. The ulcers were necrotic and oozing blood. Dr. Kirk testified that decubitus ulcers are completely preventable if the patient is repositioned every two hours. The standard of care is to reposition a patient who cannot turn himself every two hours; if the HCRA nurses had repositioned Lloyd, Dr. Kirk would have expected him to not have any ulcers.
Thus, the evidence and inferences tending to support the jury's finding that HCRA's negligence proximately caused injuries to Lloyd--malnourishment, dehydration, and decubitus ulcers--that could have been given credit by reasonable jurors includes expert testimony that the standard of care requires that patients who are unable to reposition themselves be repositioned every two hours, that decubitus ulcers do not develop if the repositioning demanded by the standard of care occurs, that it should have been easy for HCRA to keep Lloyd adequately nourished and hydrated because he had a feeding tube, that the standard of care requires patients be adequately hydrated and nourished, and that Lloyd was not adequately nourished or hydrated when he left HCRA. Also, Lloyd's family members observed decubitus ulcers on Lloyd's lower back while Lloyd was at HCRA; hospital emergency room records document that Lloyd had two stage three decubitus ulcers on his back when he arrived at the emergency room on June 15, 1999.
The contrary evidence and inferences--Nurse Burns's denial that Lloyd's ulcers were present when he left HCRA, her incredible testimony that it was possible the decubitus ulcers occurred during the ten-minute ride to the hospital emergency room although she had never seen such a phenomenon, and an unsigned note in Lloyd's chart that a nurse asked him to roll over one night and he refused--could have been disregarded by a reasonable juror. We hold that the evidence is legally sufficient to support the jury's finding that HCRA's negligence proximately caused injuries to Lloyd. See City of Keller, 168 S.W.3d at 827; Bradford, 48 S.W.3d at 754. Moreover, considering all of the evidence, the evidence supporting the jury's finding that HCRA's negligence proximately caused injuries to Lloyd is not so weak nor is the evidence to the contrary, set forth above, so overwhelming that the jury's answer should be set aside and a new trial ordered. See Garza, 395 S.W.2d at 823. We overrule HCRA's second issue.
C. The Jury's Economic and Non-economic Damage Awards
The jury found that the reasonable expense of the necessary medical and hospital care Lloyd received before his death as a result of his injuries was $17,805. The jury further found that $75,000 would fairly and reasonably compensate Lloyd for the physical pain and mental anguish he experienced before his death as a result of his injuries. In its third issue, HCRA claims that legally and factually insufficient evidence exists to support either of these damage awards.
HCRA claims that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the jury's award of $17,805 in medical expenses because the jury did not segregate the damages caused by HCRA's negligence from the medical costs that would have accrued without HCRA's negligence--the medical expenses related to Lloyd's ischemic colitis. The billing records from the hospital following Lloyd's June 15, 1999 transfer were submitted pursuant to Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 18.001. See TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN.ยง 18.001 (Vernon 1997). The total amount of Lloyd's hospital bill from June 15, 1999 until his death on June 16, 1999 was $17,190.85. The records establish that Lloyd stayed in the hospital ICU one night before he di
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