Virginia residents should be aware that a recent study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services covering the 15 percent of the U.S. population enrolled in Medicare found that each month one out of seven Medicare hospital patients is injured-and an estimated 15,000 are killed-by harmful medical practice.…
A jury in Charlottesville, Virginia recently awarded more than $10.5 million to the family of a woman who died after a concrete mixer truck fell on her car in 2007. The victims were a married couple from southwest Virginia who were travelling on State Route 53 when their car was…
According to a news reports, the federal government will pay $2.3 million to settle a medical malpractice lawsuit involving a Virginia child born with neurological damage at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. The parents of the child alleged that inadequate care at the hospital caused their child to be born with…
Virginia residents should be aware that a recent study has shown that patients in hospitals where nurses work long hours are much more likely to die of pneumonia and heart attack. In most U.S. hospitals, nurses work 12-hour shifts exclusively, a trend that began during the 1980’s due to nationwide…
Virginia residents should be aware that according to recently released study, as many as 75 percent of hospital tests are not followed up on and this failure can have serious consequences for patients, including delayed or missed diagnoses and even death. Researchers analyzed 12 international studies and found that between…
A jury in Norfolk, Virginia recently awarded a doctor beaten by a patient in a Virginia Beach psychiatric clinic a $5.35 million judgment. The award was against Psychiatric Solutions Inc. and First Hospital Corp. of Virginia Beach, the companies that own and operate the Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center, a 100-bed…
In Virginia, residents (“doctors-in-training”) at teaching hospitals may be immune from civil liability based on the ancient doctrine of sovereign immunity. National medical research, however, increasingly supports the long-held concern that lax supervision of residents at teaching hospitals contributes to patient harm, even death. “Teaching hospitals differ from other health…
A jury recently returned a verdict in a class-action lawsuit totaling nearly $619 million against one of the largest nursing home chains in the country. Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., which owns and operates nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, rehabilitation therapy businesses, and hospice homes, was sued for egregious and repeated…
According to the Virginia State Police, five motorists were killed in Virginia over the long July 4th holiday weekend. Troopers also reported responding to 743 traffic crashes over the four-day counting period. Of the fatalities, one occurred in the Hampton Roads area (which is comprised of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach,…
According to a recent report, Hampton Roads (which is comprised of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, Suffolk, and the Eastern Shore) had the highest number of car accidents that resulted in injury or death in Virginia from 2006 to 2008. On average, there was a traffic accident…