A now-former neurosurgeon at a Dallas hospital is accused of multiple botched surgeries, resulting in debilitating injuries, paralysis, and death.

Thanks to a provision of Texas law enacted in the name of “tort reform,” plaintiffs cannot recover damages from the hospital unless they can prove that it had “specific intent…to cause substantial injury or harm to the claimant”

In the fight to have that provision declared invalid under the “Open Courts” provision of the Texas Constitution, the state (by and through its attorney, Attorney General/gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott) has intervened on the side of the hospitals.

Texas: it’s like a whole other country. A shitty one.

Photo credit: By ErgoSum88 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.