Virginia: Medical Malpractice – a Lawyer’s Privilege

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On February 11, 2014, Patient’s Motion to Enforce §8.01-413(C) Subpoena Duces Tecum and Defendant’s Motion to Quash came before the Court on supplemental evidentiary “privilege” hearing in Joanne T. Rauchfuss, Administratrix of the Estate of George William Rauchfuss, Jr., Deceased v. Roger E. Schultz, M.D., et al., No. CL1302754V-04 in Circuit Court for the City of Newport News, Virginia. Rauchfuss is a survival and/or wrongful death action for medical malpractice for Defendants’ failure to communicate timely and otherwise properly that George Rauchfuss was diagnosed on CT scan as suffering from cancer.

At hearing in Rauchfuss, the Judge found the “privilege log” that Defendant, Riverside Hospital, Inc., previously had been ordered to provide was “deficient” for not being “specific” or “detailed” enough. Hence, the Judge ordered Riverside to provide an appropriate “privilege log” to Mr. Waterman within 10 days.

THE VIRGINIA STATE BAR REQUIRES ALL LAWYERS TO POST THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMERS ON ALL CASE-RELATED POSTS. MR. WATERMAN’S CASE RESULTS AND CLIENT TESTIMONIALS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. THEY DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE BY HIM.