FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, 53RD JUDICIAL DISTRICT
The appellant doctor prescribed fluoxetine with twelve refills and did not schedule a follow-up visit to treat appellee's 23 year-old son who sought treatment for depression and stress, having recently broken up with his girlfriend. The appellee's son committed suicide. The appellee sued the appellants, alleged that the appellant was negligent in prescribing fluoxetine and in not scheduling a follow-up visit with appellee's son, that the appellant Regional Clinic was vicariously liable as the appellant's employer, and that their negligence was a proximate cause of the appellee's son's death. The appellee timely served an expert report by the doctor. The trial court found that the doctor's report qualified as a report but was inadequate, denied the appellants' motion to dismiss, and gave the appellee thirty days to remedy the report's deficiencies. The appellee filed an amended report providing essentially the same opinions, but adding more detail to the causation paragraph. The appellants filed another motion to dismiss, asserting that the new report was deficient. The appellants also reasserted that because the expert's report made no reference to or criticism of the appellant clinic, it did not qualify as an expert report on those claims. The trial court denied the appellants' motion to dismiss, and the appellants filed the instant appeal. The appellate court found the expert's report did not provide the required statutory element of facts to explain the causal link between the appellant doctor's individual alleged breach and the deceased's suicide. Further, the court found that the expert's statement that a correlation existed between fluoxetine and suicide in adolescents did not supply the causal link between the prescribing of fluoxetine and the deceased's suicide. Accordingly, the trial court's order denying the appellants' motion to dismiss was reversed and remanded.