§ 71.001.Definitions

Four definitions, and the last two changed Texas wrongful death law substantially.

"Individual" includes an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth, and "death" includes, for an individual who is an unborn child, the failure to be born alive.

Both were added in 2003, and together they make a wrongful death claim available for the loss of a pregnancy at any point. Before them, Texas required live birth.

The reach is limited by the exceptions in the application section, which exclude claims against the mother, against a physician or provider where the death is the intended result of a lawful medical procedure performed with consent, against a person lawfully dispensing a drug, and against a licensed provider where the death arises from lawful medical practice.

"Corporation" means a municipal, private, public, or quasi-public corporation other than a county or a common or independent school district — the two entities excluded because their liability is governed by governmental immunity rules instead.

"Person" covers an individual, an association of individuals, a joint-stock company, or a corporation, and the trustee or receiver of any of them.

The pregnancy provisions have a proof requirement of their own: where the claim is for the death of an unborn child, the plaintiff must supply medical or other evidence that the mother was pregnant at the time.