Facts: Our client PK, hired our firm to assist her in responding to a complaint filed with TDLR. The complaint stemmed from a work-related incident where PK was working as a speech pathologist with an infant- client. At the end of her session, the infant began to slide out of their highchair and PK grabbed the infant. When doing so, she made the infant’s feeding tube pop out. The parent of the infant witnessed the incident. Later, the parent reported the incident to PK’s employer. The employer was not made aware of the incident prior to the call, as PK never documented the incident in her case file. She was terminated and her employer filed a complaint with TDLR.
Outcome: After review of the complaint, we submitted a response packet to the TDLR investigator. Within the response we argued that the incident that occurred was purely accidental. PK’s actions were not intentional and were only done in order to prevent the infant from further injury. Further legal argument was provided showing that since the incident occurred after the session had technically ended, PK was not required to notify her employer or to document the incident in her case file. After the response and additional character evidence was reviewed by TDLR staff counsel, the matter was dismissed by TDLR for lack of evidence.