Opinion ID: 3157371
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Supervision at Parkland

Text: At the time of Cornell’s death, Defendant–Appellant Nancy Schierding was Parkland’s Director of Nursing for Psychiatric Services. Defendant– Appellant Nurse Vernell Brown was Unit Manager III for the Psych ER and was responsible for the Psych ER staff, including nurses and techs. At her deposition, Schierding recalled other complaints of improper treatment in the Psych ER. A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Report prepared after Cornell’s death noted that De Guzman’s restraint-and-seclusion training had lapsed at the time of the incident, as Nurse Brown and Schierding should have been aware. At the time, Defendant–Appellant Dr. Ronnie Anderson was the CEO of Parkland. In 2008, prior to Cornell’s death, CMS sent a letter to Anderson stating that Parkland “fail[ed] to provide appropriate medical screening examination to determine whether an emergency medical condition existed” and that the “deficiencies [we]re so serious that they constitute an immediate threat to the health and safety of any individual that comes to [Parkland] with an emergency medical condition.” The CMS Report generated after Cornell’s 4 Case: 14-11020 Document: 00513282187 Page: 5 Date Filed: 11/23/2015 No. 14-11020 death detailed ongoing problems, noting that, due to an unusually high number of complaints, injuries, and deaths, Parkland had been “under near constant surveillance and investigation” by the Texas Department of State Health Services and CMS.