Virginia Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Blog

Another miscarriage of justice in Virginia medical malpractice claims

A Richmond Circuit Court Judge has ruled that a radiology group that allegedly misread studies for years cannot be sued because the statute of limitations had expired.

In this case filed against, Radiology Associates of Richmond, Inc., the patient alleged that the defendants negligently performed and interpreted various radiological studies from December 2002 to October 2005. She alleged that during this time she exhibited symptoms consistent with a tumor in the trigeminal nerve of the brain on the right side of her face.

The Richmond Circuit Court rejected an argument that the "continuous treatment rule" applies to discrete radiologic studies. The court ruled that there was in essence no "assumption of ongoing treatment."

This case likely interprets Virginia law properly however the law is anachronistic and outdated. It is incredible that in this day and age a patient could, relying on years after years of radiologists report, be denied an opportunity for justice when it turns out that all along the patient was harboring a tumor.

That's Virginia tort reform in a nutshell.

You can read the court's opinion here