Legal

The law affects every part of daily life. Our legal section offers clear, practical explanations of new laws, court rulings, and local and national legal developments. Whether you’re following a major lawsuit or seeking to understand how a new law impacts you, this section keeps readers informed about what’s happening in Virginia’s courts and legislature.

Disclaimer

The information found on this website should not be construed as legal advice and is not a substitute for professional legal consultation. You should not base your legal decisions solely on the information found in this site and you are encouraged to seek the counsel of an attorney regarding your sp

By The Legal Examiner

/ 7 Apr 2007

New Methods to Detect Brain Injury Explained

For the last several decades, doctors and hospitals have used a device called a pulse oximeter to measure the amount of oxygen in someone’s blood during medical procedures and surgeries. The purpose of this device is to ensure that while the patient is unresponsive due to anesthesia, he does not suf

By Legal Examiner Staffer

/ 22 Mar 2007

Unfortunately, Hospitals Can Be Deadly

By: James C. Lewis, HSCLA AttorneyIt may come as a surprise but 2 million patients residing in hospitals get hospital-acquired infections every year. Infection stalls recovery, sometimes requiring weeks of intravenous antibiotics or a grueling round of surgeries to remove the infected tissue. Approx

By Legal Examiner Staffer

/ 25 Jan 2007

Medical Malpractice Reform Hurts Consumers While Ballooning The Profits of the Insurance Companies

In a recent article in the American Bar Association Journal published in October 2006, written by Terry Carter, the article explores how Texas has passed massive tort reform of its medical malpractice laws. The massive overkill championed by President Bush when he was governor, Texas style, places a

By Richard Shapiro

/ 17 Nov 2006

Potential Jury Tampering Under Review After Plaintiff's Big Texas Vioxx Verdict

A Texas jury delivered a $32 million verdict against the makers of Vioxx. Now attorneys firm Merck want to obtain bank and cell phone records because one of the juror’s had just paid off a $10,000 loan from one of the plaintiffs that was a party to the case. According to an article in Lawyers Weekly

By Richard Shapiro

/ 21 Sep 2006

Seeing "Both Sides" Of Product Safety-As Injury Lawyer and Inventor/Designer of Products

I don’t know how many product liability injury lawyers also are inventors in the United States, but I suspect it’s a tiny number, or maybe just me alone. Beginning in 1999, I filed my first patent application for a new type of folding wheel axle for typical wagons and carts which allows them to fold

By Richard Shapiro

/ 13 Sep 2006

Dog Bite Injury Laws Changed In Virginia

People have a strange attitude about a dog bite injury case, but there happen to be lots of dogs in our society and unfortunately people do get attacked or bit by dogs and some of the injuries can be fairly serious-many cause permanent scars. Virginia happens to follow the common law rule known as t

By Richard Shapiro

/ 7 Sep 2006

ï»¿Medical Malpractice Supposed "Crisis" Is Officially Over

Any “crisis” that may have existed in the medical malpractice insurance industryis now reported to be officially over according to a recent study released by the non-profit group Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR). According to this report, rates ofmedical malpractice insurance coverage have seen

By Legal Examiner Staffer

/ 5 Jun 2006

Virginia Fails At Policing Its Doctors

Virginia continues to have a lower rate of serious disciplinary actions against its doctors than most states. According to the non-profit research group, Public Citizen, the rate of serious disciplinary actions against doctors in Virginia has fallen consistently over the last four years. The organiz

By Legal Examiner Staffer

/ 10 May 2006

Whose Side Are They On?

The thought of a surgeon taking a scalpel to the wrong limb or patient sends chills down the spine of anyone who has been admitted to the hospital. Eighty-four cases of what’s known in the business as “wrong site surgery” were reported in the United States last year. But that’s just the “tip of the

By Legal Examiner Staffer

/ 24 Apr 2006

U.S. Supreme Court Allows Suits Against Postal Carriers for Creating Tripping Hazards

Long ago, the federal government and its agents could not be sued for torts (a civil wrong). However, the federal government passed an act called the Federal Tort Claims Act many years ago that allows suits for negligence against federal agents, including postmen, if they are negligent and the negli

By Richard Shapiro

/ 21 Apr 2006

Medical Mistakes: Worse Than We Thought?

Five years ago, the Institute of Medicine issued a startling report that acted as awake-up call to hospitals, health care providers, and patients: As many as 98,000people die each year in hospitals in the United States from infections, drug mix-ups,and other mistakes–mistakes that could have been pr

By Legal Examiner Staffer

/ 20 Apr 2006