“No One Is Responsible”: Methodist Southlake’s Legal Response to Our Son’s Medical Crisis

On December 23, 2023, we rushed our 11-year-old son Nicholas to the emergency room at Methodist Southlake Medical Center. He had a fever, vomiting, tachycardia, low blood pressure, dehydration, and abnormal lab results. He had recently recovered from the flu but was suddenly ill again.

We trusted the ER to recognize the warning signs. We were sent home in under two hours.

Two days later, Nicholas was admitted to Cook Children’s Hospital in septic shock. He required ICU care, multiple surgeries, aggressive fluid resuscitation, vasopressors, and a prolonged hospitalization that would change the course of his life.

We later learned that federal regulators agreed that something was wrong. Methodist Southlake received a federal violation related to Nicholas’s emergency care. But in their legal filings, the hospital has taken a stark position:

They claim no one at the hospital is responsible.

On July 25, 2025, Methodist Southlake filed official objections to the expert reports in our medical malpractice case.

Their position?

• The emergency doctor who treated Nicholas isn’t their employee and therefore not their responsibility.

  • (Even though she signed all the documentation, was the only ER doctor on duty, and is listed on the Texas Medical Board as working at Methodist Southlake.)

• Our board-certified emergency medicine experts are “unqualified” to assess the care provided.

  • These experts submitted thorough reports outlining how the standard of care was violated, yet the hospital has tried to get their opinions thrown out on technicalities.

• No nurse, staff member, or hospital policy failed Nicholas.

  • This, despite documentation showing that no sepsis protocol was activated, and IV fluids were stopped prematurely, even as Nicholas's vital signs worsened.

What their defense says:

Because nurses legally can’t “diagnose”, the hospital argues they can’t be held accountable for failing to recognize how sick Nicholas was.

But let’s be clear: our son didn’t need a diagnosis.

He needed someone to treat his obvious symptoms like the emergency they were.

What they didn’t say:

What’s even more alarming? Their legal response never mentions the federal violation issued after this event.

No acknowledgment.

No explanation.

No assurance to the public that anything has changed.

The human cost:

Nicholas is now 12. He lives with permanent long-term health issues from this. He missed school, sports, holidays, and milestones. He may live with the physical and emotional impacts of this failure for life.

Why this matters for every family:

This case isn’t just about us. It’s about what happens when a hospital is more focused on avoiding legal liability than learning from a mistake. It’s about a child who walked into an ER in medical crisis and walked out without help.

And it’s about a system where a hospital can say “no one is responsible”, even after a federal violation and face no consequences unless we fight.

We’re not staying silent.

We filed this lawsuit to make sure that what happened to Nicholas never happens to another child. And we’re sharing our story because we believe the public deserves to know how their local hospital responds when the worst happens.

We won’t back down.

We’re asking for accountability.

We’re asking for change.

Because it could be your family next.

Read the documents here https://linktr.ee/fighting4nic