Wrongful Death Malpractice Claim After a Hospital's Internal Review

Attorney Answer

A hospital's internal review does not control whether you can sue, and the fact that no one contacted you does not by itself take your claim away — but the filing deadline may, and that is where your attention belongs right now. Nothing about an internal investigation is a precondition to a lawsuit. It is the clock, not the hospital's process, that closes these claims.

Texas law gives a surviving spouse a claim in her own right. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004(a) provides that an action to recover damages under the wrongful death subchapter is for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased, and § 71.004(b) allows those individuals to bring the action, or one or more of them to bring it for the benefit of all. Under § 71.004(c), if none of those individuals has begun the action within three calendar months after the death, the executor or administrator must bring and prosecute it unless all of them ask otherwise. Separately, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.021 keeps a personal injury action alive after death, to be prosecuted by the estate — the claim your husband had for what he suffered before he died.

Now the deadlines, and there are two frameworks in play. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(b) requires suit for injury resulting in death not later than two years after the cause of action accrues, and states that the cause of action accrues on the death of the injured person. But a claim against a hospital or physician is a health care liability claim, and § 74.251(a) applies notwithstanding any other law: no such claim may be commenced unless it is filed within two years from the occurrence of the breach or tort or from the date the treatment or hospitalization that is the subject of the claim is completed. Section 74.251(b) adds a 10-year statute of repose from the act or omission. Which measuring date governs a death claim built on medical care is a real legal question, and it is one you should not be guessing at.

On the concealment point: withholding information can matter, and there are arguments in Texas law about the effect of a defendant's concealment on a limitations defense. Those arguments are not automatic — they must be raised, pleaded and proved. What I would not want you to do is treat the hospital's silence as a reason to wait. It is a reason to move.

Two more mechanics. Peer review and internal quality investigations in Texas carry statutory protections that can limit what is discoverable, which is a subject for your lawyer rather than a reason to give up on records. And under § 74.351(a), an expert report with the expert's curriculum vitae must be served within 120 days of each defendant's original answer, with dismissal with prejudice and fees under § 74.351(b) if it is missed. Section 74.301 caps noneconomic damages at $250,000 per claimant against providers other than institutions, $250,000 against a single institution, and $500,000 for all institutions.

What you can do

1. Request your husband's complete medical records, and request the death certificate and, if there was one, the autopsy report.

2. Write down the sequence: the symptoms, each visit and admission, what he was told, what you were told, and by whom.

3. Keep every letter, bill, portal message and voicemail from the hospital, including the ones that say nothing.

4. Do not sign a release, a settlement, or any document the hospital or its insurer offers, and do not give a recorded statement, before a lawyer reviews it.

5. Take everything to a Texas medical malpractice attorney this month and ask first about which limitations rule applies to a death claim on these facts.

6. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who can ask you questions is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(b) sets two years for an action for injury resulting in death and accrues it on the death itself; § 74.251(a) sets two years for a health care liability claim measured from the breach or from completion of the treatment, and § 74.251(b) adds a 10-year repose period. Which one controls your claim depends on facts and dates I do not have, and the answer decides whether the case exists. Have a Texas attorney review it now. Nothing here computes a date for you.