Terms Used In Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 74 > Subchapter G - Liability Limits

• Claimant: means a person, including a decedent's estate, seeking or who has sought recovery of damages in a health care liability claim. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Court: means any federal or state court. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Health care: means any act or treatment performed or furnished, or that should have been performed or furnished, by any health care provider for, to, or on behalf of a patient during the patient's medical care, treatment, or confinement. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Health care institution: includes :
  (A) an ambulatory surgical center;
  (B) an assisted living facility licensed under Chapter 247, Health and Safety Code;
  (C) an emergency medical services provider;
  (D) a health services district created under Chapter 287, Health and Safety Code;
  (E) a home and community support services agency;
  (F) a hospice;
  (G) a hospital;
  (H) a hospital system;
  (I) an intermediate care facility for individuals with an intellectual disability or a home and community-based services waiver program for individuals with an intellectual disability adopted in accordance with Section 1915(c) of the federal Social Security Act (42 U. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Health care liability claim: means a cause of action against a health care provider or physician for treatment, lack of treatment, or other claimed departure from accepted standards of medical care, or health care, or safety or professional or administrative services directly related to health care, which proximately results in injury to or death of a claimant, whether the claimant's claim or cause of action sounds in tort or contract. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Health care provider: means any person, partnership, professional association, corporation, facility, or institution duly licensed, certified, registered, or chartered by the State of Texas to provide health care, including:
  (i) a registered nurse;
  (ii) a dentist;
  (iii) a podiatrist;
  (iv) a pharmacist;
  (v) a chiropractor;
  (vi) an optometrist;
  (vii) a health care institution; or
  (viii) a health care collaborative certified under Chapter 848, Insurance Code. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Hospital: means a licensed public or private institution as defined in Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code, or licensed under Chapter 577, Health and Safety Code. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Noneconomic damages: has the meaning assigned by § 41. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Physician: means :
  (A) an individual licensed to practice medicine in this state;
  (B) a professional association organized under the Texas Professional Association Act (Article 1528f, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes) by an individual physician or group of physicians;
  (C) a partnership or limited liability partnership formed by a group of physicians;
  (D) a nonprofit health corporation certified under § 162. See Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 74.001
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.