Trial lawyers in the cities of Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake, as well as other areas of Virginia (VA) are all trained to anticipate the prejudices that jurors have and express toward parties to litigation.
Especially in cases involving medical negligence and malpractice against doctors, nurses and physician associates, a plaintiff’s attorney can count on juries holding certain biases. Most jurors have been conditioned to believe that medical negligence case that plaintiffs bring are frivolous claims against heroic physicians who shouldn’t be blamed for their inability to protect a patient from disease.
This tendency among jurors seems to be worse when the plaintiff is elderly. This biased is known as ageism.
Unfortunately, many Americans regard the elderly in a less-than charitable light. Many people assume because old people typically don’t work they aren’t “contributing to society” and their days of achievement are long over. This results in many jurors being bias against the elderly in medical negligence cases.
In order to overcome this bias, experienced attorneys work very hard to establish that the elderly members of our population are entitled to the same standard of care and dignity, that everyone else is entitled to. It is important for the trial attorney representing the elderly patient in a medical negligence case to convince the jury that his or her client is entitled to be treated with the same dignity and care as the rest of our population. This can be done in many ways, such as reminding jurors that many of their acquaintances and loved ones are elderly, and in fact, they will become elderly themselves, in the foreseeable future.
It is important that trial attorneys representing the injured among our elderly population continue to vigorously assert their rights in the same manner and with the same enthusiasm that we represent all our other clients.
Authored By: James C. Lewis
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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