Methodist Has Its Name on Dragon Stadium. A Mom Wants Answers About What Happens in Its ER.
Updated: 3 minutes ago
Methodist Southlake Medical Center has its name on Carroll ISD’s Dragon Stadium.
When the sponsorship was presented to the school board, a fast track to the hospital’s emergency room was among the services described for students.
A fast track sounds like exactly what a parent would want when a child needs help.
But after what happened to my son, I have a question: What happens when a seriously ill child gets through the door?
On December 23, 2023, I took my 11-year-old son, Nicholas, to Methodist Southlake’s emergency room. He was sick, weak, dizzy, and vomiting. He was evaluated and sent home. We were told he had a virus, and we were not told that he had any other serious issues.
Two days later, on Christmas Day, Nicholas was admitted to Cook Children’s in septic shock.
He spent 34 days in the hospital and underwent multiple surgeries.
Now, a document provided by Methodist in our lawsuit says that when Nicholas visited the emergency room, no pediatric sepsis BPA was configured for patients under age 16.
Nicholas was 11.
The Age Setting Parents Could Not See
The document, titled “Affidavit of Tarah Grooms,” was included in Methodist’s October 29, 2026 discovery response. It identifies Grooms as a registered nurse working in Methodist Health System’s health informatics department.
According to the document, a Methodist sepsis advisory called a Sepsis OPA (Our Practice Advisories) was configured for patients age 16 and older. It says no pediatric sepsis BPA (Best Practice Advisories) was configured for patients under 16 at the time of Nicholas’s visit.
The document also describes the Epic Sepsis Cognitive Model as a separate tool designed for patients age 18 and older.
The document says the sepsis advisory did not trigger for Nicholas because he did not meet the age criteria. It says the absence of the alert was not because a clinician disabled or dismissed it.
The document explains that children can have different physiological responses and age dependent vital signs. I am not suggesting that an adult alert should simply be applied to an 11-year-old.
I am asking: What was in place for a child his age or any child under 16?
The Grooms document addresses particular electronic alerts. It does not establish that Methodist had no other pediatric screening process. It does not prove that an alert would have changed Nicholas’s care, and it does not tell us what the hospital uses today.
But it raises a question for families: If Methodist was building relationships with local schools and offering emergency room access to students, what tools and processes were in place to help its medical staff recognize possible sepsis in younger children?
When I took Nicholas to the emergency room, I did not know he was at risk of becoming critically ill. I trusted the hospital to assess him. I could not have imagined that two days later he would be fighting for his life.
Parents rely on hospitals to have appropriate processes in place when a child needs emergency care. That includes having qualified medical professionals and appropriate safeguards to help identify and respond to serious illness.
Our children’s health is too important for parents to be left wondering what protections are in place.
Read the Grooms document
This extract contains the document titled “Affidavit of Tarah Grooms” included in Methodist’s discovery response. It does not include the referenced exhibits.
The Hospital Behind the Stadium Sponsorship
At a November 6, 2023 Carroll ISD board workshop, a district representative presented Methodist Southlake’s stadium sponsorship and listed a fast track to its emergency room among the student offerings.
The representative said the offerings would be evaluated by district staff and administrators to determine how they would be used. The board later approved the sponsorship.
Carroll ISD has identified Methodist as Dragon Stadium’s official naming sponsor. The district described the partnership as projected to generate nearly $500,000.
The board discussed a five-year extension in March 2024, after Nicholas’s emergency room visit.
A hospital’s name on a stadium can create familiarity. A connection to the school district can build trust. And a fast track to the ER can sound like a comforting benefit for young students.
Parents should also know what pediatric safeguards are waiting inside that ER.
The Questions I Wish I Had Known to Ask
When I brought Nicholas to Methodist Southlake, I was not thinking about the difference between an OPA and a BPA. I was trusting Methodist.
Knowing what I know now about Nicholas’s experience and the questions surrounding his care, I would have taken him somewhere else.
I was thinking about my son.
I was watching him struggle. I was trying to explain what I was seeing. I trusted that he would be assessed carefully and that I would be told what he needed.
We left the hospital. On Christmas Day, he was admitted to Cook Children’s in septic shock.
I cannot go back and change that day. I can ask questions now that I never would have thought to ask then. And I hope other parents never have to learn to ask them the way I did.
I am asking Methodist Southlake:
What pediatric sepsis screening procedures were in place on December 23, 2023, for children younger than 16?
What procedures and electronic alerts are in place for children today?
How are staff trained to recognize possible sepsis in a child who does not qualify for a particular alert?
What safeguards support reassessment and communication of concerning findings before a child is discharged?
Carroll ISD families also deserve to know the final terms of the student emergency room fast track, including when it began, how it worked, who was eligible, and whether it is offered today. I have not seen the final signed services attachment, so I cannot say what those final terms were.
Parents Deserve Answers
Our family has filed a lawsuit concerning Nicholas’s care. The disputed issues in that case belong in the legal process.
My concern for the children around us goes beyond that case.
Methodist Southlake serves families throughout our community. Those families deserve to know what pediatric safeguards were in place when Nicholas was treated, what is in place now, and what has changed.
A parent should be able to focus on their sick child and trust the hospital institution to have all systems in place that they advertise. They should be able to ask questions and receive clear answers. And they should be able to trust that the emergency room caring for their child is prepared to recognize when something is seriously wrong.
Parents deserve to know. Our children deserve answers.
Records referenced
Grooms document, paragraphs 5 through 10, included in Methodist’s October 29, 2026 discovery response.
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