Virginia: Medical Malpractice – a Lawyer’s Online

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On December 11, 2018, Circuit Court for Loudoun County, Virginia, granted Plaintiff medical malpractice victim’s motion to compel Defendants’ 6-year pre-incident online and reading histories in Trigg v. Loudoun OB/GYN, LLC, et al., No. CL00108164-00. Specifically, over defense Objections the Judge found relevant and ordered discovery of Defendant healthcare providers’ literature searches and browsing histories from their online accounts/platforms with UpToDate, ACOG and ABOG, plus their lists of journal articles read each year to obtain CME credits and/or maintain Board certifications, for the 6 years prior to patient care at issue. The Judge rejected defense counsel’s representations that the Defendants did not actually rely on any particular literature in providing patient care, observing that Defendants arguably should have read and relied on such literature.

In Trigg, the Judge also struck defense Objections to multiple Interrogatories inquiring the factual basis for Defendant’s affirmative defenses. The ruling delineated that the underlying facts were not expert opinions.