Obtaining and Using Medical Records: The Key to Success in Your Personal Injury Suit (Online Seminar)

A pre-recorded streaming video replay of the June 2019 webcast, Obtaining and Using Medical Records: The Key to Success in Your Personal Injury Suit.

At the heart of most personal injury or medical malpractice suits is the issue of the plaintiff’s medical condition; the diagnoses and treatment provided subsequent to the incident are often critical to the outcome of the case. The materials contained in medical records can be your best evidence, but how do you get material from those records into trial? How do you keep it out? How can you present it in a coherent form to the jury? And how do you deal with the advent of electronic medical records?

These and many other tough issues will be addressed by our speakers. In particular, they will provide you with practical advice on the following topics:

• Obtaining out-of-state records: Should the plaintiff consent to a release?
• Navigating the troubled waters of Wynn v. Commonwealth: Exclusion of hearsay in medical records in the direct testimony of an expert
• Opinions in medical records: The impact of Neeley v. Johnson
• Problems in electronic medical records
  • Authentication
  • Format
  • Electronic database audit trails
• Medical records and objections to exhibit list: How important are they?
• Demonstrative and illustrative medical exhibits: How to lay a foundation and how to challenge them; when and how to disclose them
• Fees for medical records: Va. Code § 8.01-413
• Hearsay within hearsay: Is a stipulation to authenticity enough?
• Getting around the high costs for printed electronic records

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

John T. Jessee, LeClairRyan / Roanoke

After graduating Order of the Coif from Washington & Lee University School of Law, John Jessee began his legal career as a federal law clerk for the Honorable Judge John A. Field, Jr., Judge, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Jessee entered private practice in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1980.  For the past 25 years, Mr. Jessee has directed much of his practice to the defense of medical professionals. He has tried medical malpractice and health law–related cases in Virginia and West Virginia. He has been involved in over 100 medical malpractice trials, including the successful defense of an orthopedic spine surgeon, who was named as a defendant in over 50 cases.  Mr. Jessee was selected as a top civil litigator in Virginia Business magazine’s “Legal Elite.” Additionally, he has been selected as one of the Outstanding Lawyers in America™, Virginia Super Lawyers, as well as one of The Best Lawyers in America^® from 2005–2010 for Business Litigation, Medical Malpractice Law, and Personal Injury Litigation, and from 2011–2012 for Medical Malpractice Law—Defendants, Personal Injury Litigation—Defendants. In 2016, he was selected to the class of 2016 Leaders in the Law by Virginia Lawyers Media.  Mr. Jessee is actively involved in bar associations and community activities. He has served as president of Mill Mountain Theatre, Opera Roanoke, the Julian Stanley Wise Foundation, Concord University Foundation, and the Southwest Virginia Historical Society. Mr. Jessee is currently a member of the Virginia Bar Association Judiciary Committee and Boyd-Graves Conference.

R. Lee Livingston, MichieHamlett / Charlottesville

Lee Livingston practices civil litigation, personal injury law, medical malpractice, and defamation law.  A member of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors since 1999, Mr. Livingston presently serves on the VTLA Executive Council as a vice president.  He is former chair of the Virginia State Bar Litigation Section Board of Governors and the Virginia State Bar Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Board.  He teaches Trial Advocacy and Trial Evidence at the University of Virginia School of Law.  He is co-author of Evidence for the Trial Lawyer, a Matthew-Bender (Lexis) publication. He has served on the Virginia Supreme Court’s Appellate Rules Advisory Committee and Electronic Filing Study Committee, and the Virginia Model Jury Instructions Committee.  He is a member of the Boyd-Graves Conference and its evidence committee.  Mr. Livingston is listed in Best Lawyers in America and was named Lawyer of the Year—2012, Medical Malpractice, Charlottesville, Virginia.  He is "AV-preeminent" rated by Martindale Hubbell and he has been honored for selection by Richmond magazine as a Virginia "Super Lawyer." Mr. Livingston has often participated as a speaker for continuing legal education programs, and has published articles in his fields of specialty.