Friday, January 11, 2008

Medical malpractice cases revived

No expert testimony is needed to establish that a dialysis center was negligent in placing a patient in a chair that collapsed—twice, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today.

“The issue of the defendant’s acts of medical negligence regarding the defective chair is quite simple and within the common knowledge of a lay jury,” the court held.

The case of Coston v. Bio-Medical Applications of Virginia Inc. was one of two medical malpractice cases the court reinstated.

In the second, Lloyd v. Kime MD, the court held that a neurologist who no longer performs surgery or has an active clinical practice nevertheless could testify about postoperative treatment by an orthopedist of a man who underwent a cervical diskectomy. The neurologist also could testify about the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries, but he could not testify about the standard of care during the operation itself, the court held.

No comments: