El Paso Children’s Hospital’s Identity Crisis

David Crowder, in last week’s El Paso Inc., wrote:

Children’s, a nonprofit organization under El Paso County’s University Medical Center, is claiming governmental immunity from liability in the wrongful death and malpractice lawsuits brought by the Saucedos and other plaintiffs.

But we read in ElPasoPolitics.com:

Last Friday we received a letter from the Texas Attorney General’s office advising us that they are closing the file on the matter. According to the letter, the El Paso Children’s Hospital informed them that “it is not a governmental body subject to the requirements” of the open record law.

So which is it? When they’re getting sued, they claim governmental immunity, but when they’re petitioned for information under the Texas Public Information Act, they claim that they’re not subject to the Act, because they’re not a governmental body.

Is it quantum physics? Schrödinger’s cat?

We better get some lawyers in here to figure this out.