University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston v. Estate of Blackmon Ex Rel. Shultz

OPINION

BILL VANCE, Justice.

Introduction

This is an interlocutory appeal of the trial court’s denial of a plea to the jurisdiction by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB).

UTMB provides medical services to inmates in Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facilities in Coryell County. An inmate’s daughter seeks wrongful-death and survival damages following her mother’s death from pneumonia while incarcerated at a TDCJ facility. The issue is whether the plaintiff has alleged a waiver of sovereign immunity from suit under the Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA) by pleading that…