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Va. Supreme Court blocks bid to avoid medical malpractice cap
Peter Vieth//January 12, 2014
An effort to recover more than the maximum allowed under Virginia law in a birth injury case has been turned aside by the Supreme Court of Virginia.
The court decided that injuries to Marissa Simpson, now 12, caused by a medical procedure before she was born are covered by the state’s medical malpractice law and therefore are subject to a cap on the amount of damages she can receive.
Simpson’s lawyers had argued she was not a “natural person” under Virginia law at the time of 2001 prenatal testing blamed for her injuries, according to The Roanoke Times.
“Since a fetus is not a person, then Marissa could not meet the definition of a patient,” Jeff Krasnow, a Roanoke attorney who handled her case, told the paper.
Two years ago, a Roanoke jury returned a $7 million verdict against the physician who performed the tests. The Supreme Court affirmed a trial court decision to limit the judgment to the amount allowed under Virginia’s medical malpractice law.
Verdicts & Settlements
- Plaintiff injured in crash with oncoming vehicle — $235,000 settlement
- Driver killed in rear-end collision with tractor-trailer — $1.5M settlement
- Man died from pancreatic cancer after delayed response — $1.8M settlement
- Worker fell off roof, rendering him a paraplegic — $1.25M settlement
- Driver sustained permanent hearing loss after traffic collision — $240,000 settlement
- Plaintiff suffered concussion in rear-end collision — $81,000 verdict
- Builder misrepresented home status to buyers — $675,000 verdict
- Low potassium led to cardiac arrest, death of patient — $1M settlement
- Excessive propofol caused death in dialysis patient — $850,000 settlement
- Pedestrian struck in crosswalk in hit-and-run incident — $300,000 settlement
- Navy veteran killed in collision with box truck — $1.85M arbitration award
- Motorcyclist ejected from bike in collision with SUV — $1.5M settlement
Opinion Digests
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- Engineering consultant dismissed from suit
- Rule 60 motion was filed too late
- Nonprofit directors immune from ex-employees’ claims
- City, employees immune from whistleblower claims
- Experts excluded in condemnation damages suit
- Judgment entered against company for horse’s death
