Pilot Programs

Mr. Waterman has pioneered discovery of hospital “pilot programs” for Plaintiff victim patients in medical malpractice cases. His trilogy of favorable published opinions are the first reported ones in Virginia and are believed to be some of the earliest ones nationwide. See, Rauchfuss v. Schultz, 2016 Va. Cir. LEXIS 24 (Newport News Mar. 15, 2016), 2015 Va. Cir. LEXIS 186 (Newport News Dec. 15, 2015), and 2015 Va. Cir. LEXIS 69 (Newport News May 26, 2015).

Before Mr. Waterman’s precedent-setting case, Virginia medical malpractice lawyers were not even aware of the existence of “pilot programs”. Like it sounds, “pilot programs” are test programs involving patient treatment/care that hospitals implement on a trial basis – without disclosing it to the patients involved or otherwise.

If productive and feasible, “pilot programs” stand to be instituted by hospitals as their policies and procedures. Yet even if they do not become policies and procedures, those under-the-radar “pilot programs” evidence the hidden awareness, interventions, capabilities, etc. of hospitals and individual healthcare providers regarding known patient treatment/care problems/issues, which can be invaluable proof of negligence, i.e., of medical malpractice.