Medical Malpractice

• 3.5 Million Verdict For Brain Damage After Botched Gastric Bypass

  Rick Shapiro | September 06, 2006 8:22 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  A jury recently awarded a 3.5 million dollar verdict in Fredericksburg Circuit Court to a plaintiff who underwent gastric bypass surgery (stomach staple surgery) and suffered brain damage. One doctor, President of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, testified that a leak from the plaintiff's gastric bypass surgery caused peritonitis and a septic reaction that lead to the brain getting...

• Is the Tide Turning?

  Rick Shapiro | July 21, 2006 4:28 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  BY JAMES C. LEWIS, HSCLA ATTORNEY During the last five years, we have seen a dramatic surge in the passage of legislation that is intended to deprive victims of medical mistakes by the health care community from receiving full and fair consideration. These efforts have included capping victims' rights to non-economic damages which flow from catastrophic injuries to limiting attorney's fees in...

• Illegal Sexual Assault At Nursing Home Not Governed by Medical Malpractice Act

  Rick Shapiro | June 20, 2006 8:10 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  The news media seems to be reporting on all kinds of cases of wrongful death, serious injuries, and sexual abuse at nursing facilities. Seniors at nursing homes are so vulnerable to malpractice and poor medical care in the first place. Most states have specific statutes covering medical malpractice and actually define what is "medical care" for example.In a recent case in Virginia, the Va....

• Medical Malpractice Supposed "Crisis" Is Officially Over

  Staff Writer | June 05, 2006 7:40 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  Any "crisis" that may have existed in the medical malpractice insurance industryis now reported to be officially over according to a recent study released by the non-profit group Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR). According to this report, rates ofmedical malpractice insurance coverage have seen a "wholesale collapse" across thecountry. In February, the New York-based Consumer Advocacy...

• Nurse Blows Whistle on Doctor's Malpractice-Sawed Down Screwdriver Inserted in Patient's Back

  Rick Shapiro | May 14, 2006 9:08 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  It is whispered that the nurses that really "care" about their patients will only go so far to protect a negligent doctor or hospital from "whistleblowing" --when they know malpractice has occurred. Will a nurse "whistleblow" even when they worry that they could be fired or disciplined for notifying someone of the truth?Here's a true story that you won't believe: a 73 year old Reverend was in...

• Virginia Fails At Policing Its Doctors

  Staff Writer | May 10, 2006 1:22 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  Virginia continues to have a lower rate of serious disciplinary actions against its doctors than most states. According to the non-profit research group, Public Citizen, the rate of serious disciplinary actions against doctors in Virginia has fallen consistently over the last four years. The organization ranked Virginia 34th in the nation for 2005, down from 33rd in 2004, 27th...

• Whose Side Are They On?

  Staff Writer | April 24, 2006 4:33 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  The thought of a surgeon taking a scalpel to the wrong limb or patient sends chills down the spine of anyone who has been admitted to the hospital. Eighty-four cases of what's known in the business as "wrong site surgery" were reported in the United States last year. But that's just the "tip of the iceberg" because many hospitals across the country aren't obligated to account for such blunders...

• Nursing Home Injury Cases-Maintaining Inadequate Insurance Is a New Troubling Tactic

  John Cooper | April 24, 2006 9:25 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  Cases of nursing home abuse and neglect are quite common these days. The main reason is that many of these facilities are run with an eye towards the bottom line for the owners and not the benefit of the patients. Some corporations which own nursing home facilities will squeeze every last dime out of the facility in part by reducing staff. Another game that the nursing home industry has been...

• Virginia Medical Negligence Law Now Requires Certification

  John Cooper | April 21, 2006 2:02 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  Virginia recently changed its laws related to medical malpractice cases. The new law requires that the lawyer certify that he has an expert witness in the appropriate specialty who will testify that the defendant violated the standard of care before serving the lawsuit. This law is actually a good thing. Now, there will be fewer lawsuits filed by lawyers who are not really experienced medical...

• Medical Mistakes: Worse Than We Thought?

  Staff Writer | April 20, 2006 9:32 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, VA

  Five years ago, the Institute of Medicine issued a startling report that acted as awake-up call to hospitals, health care providers, and patients: As many as 98,000people die each year in hospitals in the United States from infections, drug mix-ups,and other mistakes--mistakes that could have been prevented. Two of the authors of that report recently published a follow-up article in...