Don Floyd

Donald Wayne Floyd (July 1, 1938 – March 9, 1980) was a professional American football defensive end who played in the American Football League (AFL).

Born in Abilene, Texas, Floyd played his high school football in Midlothian, Texas, for the Midlothian Panthers. Midlothian named a stadium in his honor, but built a new one. Now Don Floyd stadium is used primarily as a practice field, which brought much criticism from Midlothian citizens.

Floyd earned All America honors at Texas Christian University (TCU), played on offense and defense, and helped TCU to two conference championships and two bowl appearances.

After being a draft choice of both the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League (NFL) and the Houston Oilers of the AFL in 1960, Floyd signed with Houston in the fledgling AFL. He was selected as a defensive end on the American Football League All-League team in 1961 and 1962, and an AFL Eastern Division All-Star in 1963. In the early 1960s, Floyd was among the best, using a combination of strength and speed to establish a presence to be accounted for by the opposition on every play.

He played in four American Football League Championships, helping the Oilers win the league's first two titles in 1960 and 1961. Don Floyd is on the Oilers' All-Time Team.

On March 9, 1980, while traveling with a friend through Raymondville on his way to Houston, Floyd began to experience chest pain. Floyd's friend took him to Willacy County Hospital in Raymondville, where a nurse instructed the pair to drive to a hospital in Harlingen, 30 miles away. On the drive toward Harlingen, Floyd died of a heart attack. Surviving family members, including three former wives, sued the on-duty physician, the emergency room nurse and the hospital in Raymondville.

Subsequent investigation determined that the nurse at Willacy County Hospital had been told to send all patients to the Harlingen hospital except in true life-and-death emergencies. The nursing board disciplinary hearing against the nurse and subsequent legal challenges to it (Lunsford v. Board of Nurse Examiners) established that nurses have a nurse-patient relationship and a duty to act when a patient comes to an emergency room, even if the patient has never been seen by the hospital or one of its physicians.