I advise my clients that the pursuit of a medical malpractice claim involves waiving the privacy and confidentiality of the medical issues related to the claim. I think that is customary advice in the legal community. Trying to parse out what may remain confidential, whether you have a “qualified protective order” or not, is an […]
An Illinois court ruled that a defendant doctor’s legal team could not have access to the plaintiff’s mental health records because they were not relevant to the claims. “From the limited record, Dr. Rao practices at a clinic that specialized in lung issues. Plaintiff was there presumably seeking treatment for lung issues. Nowhere in the […]
When I was coming up as a trial lawyer, I stayed hyper-focused on maintaining a variety of skills during discovery to get at the truth. My Dad used to say, “You need more than one arrow in your quiver.” More often than not, whether in depositions or hearings, combat was the rule of the day. […]
I have personally investigated everything from car explosions and fires to rollover accidents caused by tire blowout. I have been on the scene for traumatic motorcycle and pedestrian death investigations. I have been present for automobile reconstructions that last for days in the sweltering heat of salvage yards. Here is a link to my firm […]
Once your lawyer receives and organizes discovery, the contents are evaluated closely – in and out of context. The stuff must be turned over, looking at it from every angle. In the movie, My Cousin Vinnie, Joe Pesci’s character teaches this lesson using a playing card. He shows the card to his young client with […]
In movies, a large truck will pull up to a lawyer’s office with hundreds of document boxes inside. This is a dramatization of a problem your lawyer first learned about in school. Large companies try to take advantage of their size by producing everything they can find in response to any good discovery request. The […]
I can remember when I first started reviewing medical records. They don’t teach that skill in law school and it felt more like looking for needles in a haystack, turning the pages, and trying to decipher the different handwriting, acronyms, and shorthand. Some mysteries never get solved and some were solved with the help of […]
Discovery in a civil case is not limited to trial evidence. In fact, the rules in most jurisdiction allow discovery of anything that is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. In most medical malpractice cases, this means a list of all prior professional negligence claims (no matter the outcome). These prior […]
San Diego County is appealing an $85 million verdict obtained after it with-held discovery from the plaintiff and was sanctioned for it by the judge. Just before trial, lawyers for the family said that the county had acted improperly by not turning over key evidence, including a training video on how to apply restraints that […]
The patient was supposed to get Versed, a sedative intended to calm her before being scanned in a large, MRI-like machine. But Vaught accidentally grabbed vecuronium, a powerful paralyzer, which stopped the patient’s breathing and left her brain-dead before the error was discovered. That was in a prestigious Tennessee hospital. The link is here. I had […]
