MALPRACTICE

Dill v. Fowler, No. 11-07-00227-CV (Tex. App. Apr. 10, 2008)

The Court of Appeals of Texas rejected a malpractice plaintiff's argument that a Texas statute requiring malpractice plaintiffs whose claims arise out of emergency medical care to produce evidence that the defendant physician was "willfully and wantonly negligent" was unconstitutional. The court reasoned that the statute, which imposes a lower standard of care when a physician provides emergency care in certain settings, was constitutionally permissible because it was rationally related to the legitimate government purpose of ensuring the availability of emergency care to its citizens by protecting physicians from rising malpractice premiums and making it easier for hospitals to recruit on-call physicians.