St. John V. Round Rock Hospital: A Case Study

Briefly, the summary judgment facts of St. John v. Pope (1995) noted that Pope, who had recently undergone back pain surgery and epidural injections at Round Rock Hospital, went to the Central Texas Medical Center emergency room in San Marcos for back pain and fever. The emergency room physician, at Central Texas Medical Center, telephoned St. John, the on-call physician, who recommended Pope be referred to the Round Rock Hospital, where his surgeon was on staff. However, when Round Rock Hospital’s emergency room refused to accept Pope, he went home. The following day in a hospital in Austin, a lumbar puncture revealed Pope was suffering from meningitis, which resulted in permanent disabilities (St. John v. Pope, 1995).