Miller v. HCA, Inc.

Karla Miller (plaintiff) was admitted to Woman's Hospital of Texas (defendant) in premature labor with an infection dangerous to her health, and physicians told Karla and her husband Mark (plaintiffs) that a fetus at 23 weeks' gestation had little chance of surviving and, if it survived, would suffer severe permanent impairments; the Millers decided against any resuscitation of the infant. Despite this, hospital staff planned for a neonatologist to be present at delivery to decide on resuscitation, and when Mark refused to sign a consent form for resuscitation under the hospital's policy requiring resuscitation of any baby over 500 grams, the hospital proceeded anyway: after Karla's condition worsened, labor was induced, and the baby, Sydney, was born at 615 grams and given life-saving treatment by the attending neonatologist, Dr. Otero, resulting in a brain hemorrhage and severe impairments. The Millers sued Woman's Hospital and its parent, HCA (defendant), for battery and negligence, and a jury awarded them tens of millions of dollars after finding the hospital acted without parental consent, but the court of appeals reversed that judgment.