$2.25 million stolen from patient by Virginia law after operating room fire
The Supreme Court of Virginia has recently upheld a verdict against an Alexandria surgeon after a flash fire erupted in the operating room and Alexandria Hospital, severely injuring a woman who is undergoing simple thyroid surgery.
The Supreme Court dismissed the surgeon’s appeal because the appeal had not been filed on time. What is not discussed in the Supreme Court’s opinion is how Virginia’s “tort reform” laws stole $2.25 million from Rita Talbert.
In April 2005 Ms. Talbert entered Alexandria Hospital for simple outpatient surgery. Many operations later and after incurring over $500,000 in medical bills she filed suit against the surgeon, the hospital, and the anesthesiologist after a flash fire caused severe burns.
A jury in Alexandria (known for conservative verdicts) awarded her $4 million as full and fair compensation for her injuries. However Virginia has its own version of “tort reform” which determined even before the case was filed that the maximum recovery from his Talbert would be $1.75 million.
In Virginia it makes no difference how bad your injury or whether or not your medical bills will bankrupt you. The insurance lobby has been highly successful in imposing an unfair total cap on damages.
Ms. Talbert settled with other defendants for $710,000 and proceeded to trial against Dr. Hutchins who refused to settle.
You can read more about this operating room fire and the verdict against the surgeon here.
Here is another website with information about surgical fires.
[...] the appropriate amount of money to Award for the malpractice was in large part wasted. Last year, Virginia’s tort reform in medical malpractice stole $2.5 million from a malpractice victim wh… When we will wake [...]