Thao Chau and her family brought this healthcare liability suit against Dr. Jefferson Riddle and his professional association, Greater Houston Anesthesiology, P.A., alleging that Riddle’s negligence in intubating Chau’s son, S.D., deprived him of oxygen and caused brain damage. The trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment and a divided court of appeals affirmed, reasoning that Riddle conclusively established the Good Samaritan defense. 212 S.W.3d 699, 711. We hold, however, that Riddle did not conclusively establish that he is entitled to the Good Samaritan defense, and, accordingly, we reverse the court of appeals’ judgment.
Riddle was the on-call anesthesiologist for the labor and delivery suites at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital on the night of October 29–30, 2001. While on his shift, Riddle was called upon to administer anesthesia to Chau during her emergency cesarean section. When S.D., one of Chau’s twins, was delivered, he was not breathing. After the nurses and residents present were unable to resuscitate S.D., Dr. Duc Le, Chau’s obstetrician and her attending physician, asked Riddle to intubate S.D. It is undisputed that Riddle did so, then, allegedly without performing all the immediate follow-up checks typically required by the standard of care and leaving the nurses and residents to secure the tube, returned to Chau. The nurses and residents continued to attempt to resuscitate S.D., but they were unsuccessful. Twelve minutes after Riddle’s intubation, the neonatologist arrived and discovered that the tube was in S.D.’s esophagus instead of his trachea. As soon as she moved the tube to S.D.’s trachea, he began to breathe, but had suffered permanent brain damage in the interim.
In the trial court, Riddle and Greater Houston Anesthesiology (collectively “Riddle”) argued that because Riddle had responded to the emergency of S.D. not being able to breathe, Texas’s Good Samaritan statute precluded any liability for negligence.*fn1 Riddle moved for summary judgment, arguing both that he had conclusively proved he was entitled to the affirmative Good Samaritan defense and that Chau had presented no evidence of duty or causation. The trial court granted Riddle’s motion without specifying the grounds, and the court of appeals affirmed, reasoning that Riddle had established the Good Samaritan defense as a matter of law. Id.
