Thomas P. Sartwelle

Of Counsel

Phone: 713-429-4354
Fax: 713-277-7220
Email

Thomas P. Sartwelle has fifty years of trial experience primarily handling complex cases involving business disputes, catastrophic personal injury and death, cerebral palsy and birth injury, drug and medical devices, nursing homes, general and premises liability, defamation, medical, hospital, and legal malpractice cases with extensive experience handling medical administrative, credentialing and discipline hearings.

Cases and Verdicts

  • Defended to verdict case involving the first Texas Corporation indicted for murder in the longest trial in Texas history in State of Texas v. Autumn Hills Nursing Homes. This murder trial is the subject of Steve Long’s book “Death Without Dignity. (See Wikipedia and Amazon)
  • Tried to verdict case involving medical malpractice claim against two pediatric ophthalmologists involving the world’s only blind and deaf triplets.
  • Tried to verdict case involving the defense of transferring hospital in the first alleged patient dumping trial in Texas.
  • Represented the plaintiff in fraudulent stock transfer cases involving claim of fraud, conspiracy, conversion, and tortuous interference with a business relationship.
  • Tried to verdict case involving defense of hospital in the four-month trial of the infamous Pasadena liposuction doctor whose patients developed flesh eating infections.
  • Tried to verdict nursing home cases involving alleged nursing and medical malpractice and alleged elder abuse and injury.
  • Represented the defendant in breach of fiduciary duty case involving Sam Houston Race Park stock transaction dispute.
  • Represented the defendant in the first Texas trial where a jury found a plaintiff negligent in failing to wear a seatbelt causing the plaintiff’s injuries.
  • Defended to verdict case involving lawyer in one of the first Texas legal malpractice cases where an excess carrier alleged the lawyer’s negligent mishandling of the defense causes a settlement over primary limits.
  • Defended to verdict a case involving obstetrician in one of the first successful defense verdicts in Texas in a birth-related permanent brain injury cerebral palsy case.
  • Represented numerous physicians and hospitals in cases involving alleged birth asphyxia brain damage and cerebral palsy.

Certified Legal Specialities

  • American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys – Medical Professional Liability
    (Recertified 2003, 2008, 2013) (Accredited by ABA)
  • American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys – Legal Professional Liability (Recertified 2013) (Accredited by ABA)
  • National Board of Trial Advocacy- Civil Trial Advocate (Recertified 2005, 2010, 2015)
    (Accredited by ABA)
  • National Board of Trial Advocacy – Civil Practice Advocacy (Accredited by ABA)
  • Texas Board of Legal Specialization – Personal Injury Trial Law (Recertified 2005, 2010, 2015).

Education

  • University of Texas; B.B.A. – 1965
  • University of Texas Law School – L.L.B. – 1967

Published Works

  • Thomas P. Sartwelle, James C. Johnson M.D., J.D., Cerebral Palsey and Electronic Fetal Monitoring: Rearranging the Titanic’s Deck Chairs. 2(2) J. Childhood & Develop Disorders (April 2016)
  • Thomas P. Sartwelle, James C. Johnson, M.D., J.D., Berna Arda, M.D., Med. Spec., Ph.D. “Perpetuating Myths, Fables, and Fairy Tales: A Half Century of Electronic Fetal Monitoring,” The Surgery Journal (November 2015)
  • Thomas P. Sartwelle, James C. Johnson, M.D., J.D., “Neonatal Encephalopathy 2015: Opportunity Lost and Words Unspoken,” J. Maternal, Fetal & Neonatal Medicine (June 2015)
  • Thomas P. Sartwelle, James C. Johnson, M.D., J.D., “Cerebral Palsy Litigation: A Continuing 21st Century Epidemic,” Legal Medicine and Medical Ethics, 9th Ed., Ch 23, Module 6
  • James C. Johnson, M.D., J.D. and Thomas P. Sartwelle “The Expert Witness in Medical Malpractice Litigation: Through the Looking Glass,” 28 J. Child Neurology 484-501 (2013)
  • “Electronic Fetal Monitoring: A Defense Lawyer’s View” Rev. In Obstetrics & Gynecology (January 2013)
  • “Electronic Fetal Monitoring: A Bridge Too Far,” 33 Journal of Legal Medicine, 313-379 (2012)
  • “Your Doctor is Board Certified. Is Your Lawyer?” The Professional Lawyer (May 2011) (American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility)
  • “Defending a Neurologic Birth Injury: Asphyxia Neonatorum Redux,” 30 Journal of Legal Medicine, 181-247 (2009)
  • Annual Survey of Texas Law, Workmen’s Compensation Sections, Volumes 29-33 Southwestern Law Journal (Southern Methodist University)
  • Thomas P. Sartwelle “Trial Lawyers, Plumbers, and Electricians: Should They All be Certified?” 59 South Tex. L. Rev. 59-76 (2018)
  • Thomas P. Sartwelle, James C. Johnson, “Continuous Electronic Fetal Monitoring During Labor: A Critique and a Reply to Contemporary Proponents” Surgery Journal, 2018; 4:e23-e28
  • K. Nelson, T.P. Sartwelle, Rouse D. “Electronic Fetal Monitoring, Cerebral Palsy, and Caesarean Section: Assumptions Versus Evidence,” British Medicine Journal 2016; 355;i6405-i6408