DALLAS, TX (June 27, 2024) – The family of the late U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson and Baylor Scott & White have reached a resolution over allegations that the hospital chain and rehab center were at fault for the Congresswoman's death in December, an attorney for the family said Thursday.
Six months ago, the family said it intended to sue Baylor Scott & White Health System and Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation alleging that negligent care at the hospital's rehabilitation center led to Johnson's death. Thursday, Kirk Johnson, the son of the Congresswoman, and family attorney Les Weisbrod announced a resolution of all matters between the family and the medical facilities.
"We are at peace" Kirk Johnson said, choking back tears. "We have to accept God's will but her initiatives, her interests, will continue to live."
Kirk Johnson, son of former Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, reacts after talking about his mother alongside attorney Les Weisbrod as they held a press conference about a resolution of all matters reached between his family and Baylor Scott & White at Miller Weisbrod Olesky, Attorneys at Law offices in Dallas on Thursday, June 27, 2024. The family also announced the creation of the Eddie Bernice Johnson Lives Foundation.
Eddie Bernice Johnson Lives Foundation
The purposes of the Eddie Bernice Johnson Lives Foundation are to support organizations dedicated to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the education, health, economic and cultural survival of a diverse community, the Eddie Bernice Johnson STEM Academy; and organizations to support women's rights, stable families, and initiates for peace in the world.
Johnson, a trailblazing Black woman who spent decades as North Texas' most powerful Democrat and the first registered nurse elected to Congress, died of a bone infection in her lumbar spine. She was 89.
The resolution includes renaming an existing scholarship program that allows the hospital system to sponsor employees who want to pursue an advanced degree in nursing after the Congresswoman and the creation of a not-for-profit foundation run by the Johnson family that will continue to champion causes long affiliated with the public servant. The Eddie Bernice Johnson Lives Foundation will support organizations that promote women's rights, stable families, education and peace initiatives.
Baylor Scott & White suggested to the family's lawyers the renaming of the scholarship and the formation of a charitable foundation, Weisbrod said. The family and lawyers would not discuss the details of the resolution, including financial commitments from the hospital.
Baylor Scott & White made an undisclosed initial contribution to the foundation, Weisbrod said. "It's an excellent resolution considering the caps that are in place in the state of Texas and it's the resolution that will allow the family to do good in the Congresswoman's name," Weisbrod said at a press conference.
A mourner holds a yellow rose along with a funeral program during burial services for former U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson at the Texas State Cemetery on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Austin.
The Texas cap outlines that in most malpractice cases, a person can win no more than $250,000 against Texas physicians for their pain and suffering, per a 20-year-old state law and constitutional amendment backed by insurers and medical groups. It leads to Texans looking to sue over medical malpractice being turned away by trial lawyers because the allegations are too costly to litigate compared to how much can be won in court.
During the press conference, Weisbrod held up a copy of a January Dallas Morning News article entitled, "The price of a life: Congresswoman's death is drawing attention to Texas malpractice cap." "One of the important things here is that sometimes the court of public opinion can be more powerful than the court of law, particularly when we're dealing with these unfair caps on damages in medical malpractice death cases, " Weisbrod said holding the copy.
The rule has been touted as a way to shield doctors from baseless lawsuits, exorbitant verdicts and to keep them from fleeing the state, but malpractice attorneys say the ceiling short-changes victims and defers accountability.
Attorney Les Weisbrod holds a Dallas Morning News article titled "The price of a life: Congresswoman's death is drawing attention to Texas malpractice cap» as he speaks about a resolution of all matters reached between the family of the late Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and Baylor Scott &White as he and Johnson's son Kirk Johnson, not pictured, held a press conference at Miller Weisbrod Olesky, Attorneys at Law offices in Dallas on Thursday, June 27, 2024. The family also announced the creation of the Eddie Bernice Johnson Lives Foundation.
Johnson, known as "EBJ", 11 underwent extensive back surgery in September to correct degenerative conditions that would have made the longtime congresswoman unable to walk, Weisbrod said. Johnson's surgeon recommended she go to Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation for care after the surgery, physical therapy and constant redressing of her wound to prevent infections. Ahead of an appointment Kirk Johnson had made to meet his mother's case worker at the rehabilitation center, his mother called him saying she needed help and no one responded when she repeatedly pressed a call button.
According to the family and their lawyers, EBJ was lying in her own feces and urine. The family's lawyers estimated that EBJ was alone for about an hour before she received medical care.
In medical records, Johnson's orthopedic surgeon wrote Johnson "was found in bed sitting in her own feces, which was not being cleaned up.» Days later, the doctor wrote, she began having« copious purulent drainage" - a sign of an infection - from the surgical incision.
The family had said the hospital's neglect caused the infection and Johnson's subsequent death.
U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, speaks on July 22, 2019, in Dallas. Johnson's family has reached an agreement with a Dallas rehabilitation center over her death. Family attorney Les Weisbrod said Thursday, June 27, 2024 that Baylor Scott &White Institute for Rehabilitation agreed to donate an unspecified amount to the Eddie Bernice Johnson Lives Foundation and rename a nursing scholarship in her name. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
In the upcoming legislative session, Weisbrod said he and the family plan to work across party lines to raise the caps to $500,000, so it at least keeps up with inflation. Weisbrod said he's been assured by the hospital that policies and procedures are now in place to prevent the neglect originally alleged "we have got to continue working so that those caps are changed, so that every Texan could get a more favorable result for the loss of their loved one and not just those that are related to a congresswoman," Weisbrod said.
Maggie Prosser and Marin Wolf contributed to this report.