Health Care Law Blog Banner

Health Care Law Blog

Virginia Man Wins $500,000 After Recording Surgical Team’s Insulting Comments
Posted by:

healthcare lawsuitTalk about adding insult to injury. A Virginia man woke up after his colonoscopy to learn that the surgical team had mocked, belittled and insulted him throughout the procedure.

Fearful that he would not remember the doctor’s post-op instructions, the man pressed record on his smartphone before receiving anesthesia. Upon listening to the recording after the procedure, he realized that the members of the surgical team began their rant as soon as he drifted off to sleep.

In addition to mocking the patient, the doctors hatched a scheme to avoid the man after the colonoscopy by pretending to receive an urgent page, instructed a medical assistant to lie to him, and stated that they planned to falsely note on the man’s medical chart that he had hemorrhoids.

The doctors’ actions resulted in much more than hurt feelings. The man filed suit in Fairfax County Court, asking for $1 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages for defamation and medical malpractice. Following a three-day trial, a jury ordered the anesthesiologist and her practice to pay him $500,000 in actual and punitive damages. The jury awarded $100,000 for the defamation claim ($50,000 for each of the comments about the man having syphilis and tuberculosis). The jury also awarded $200,000 for medical malpractice, and $200,000 in punitive damages.

Although comments between doctors typically would be privileged, the plaintiff claimed that his recording proved that there were other people in the room during the procedure and that they were discussing matters beyond the scope of the colonoscopy.

Also at issue was whether the comments were understood by others that were present in the operating room to be assertions of fact. The jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff on this issue.

In addition, the doctors challenged the legality of the recording given that they did not consent to it. However, Virginia is a “one party consent” state, meaning that only one person involved in a conversation (in this case, the patient/plaintiff) needs to agree to the recording.

This case highlights the importance of ensuring the professional conduct of medical staff members. While the facts in this case are egregious, hospitals and medical practices would be well-advised to educate staff members on the potential legal ramifications of bad bedside manner.

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter/X Email

Authors

Categories

Recent Posts

Jump to Page

Foster Swift Collins & Smith PC Cookie Preference Center

Your Privacy

When you visit our website, we use cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. For more information about how we use Cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Always Active

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. These cookies may only be disabled by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Functional Cookies

Always Active

Some functions of the site require remembering user choices, for example your cookie preference, or keyword search highlighting. These do not store any personal information.

Form Submissions

Always Active

When submitting your data, for example on a contact form or event registration, a cookie might be used to monitor the state of your submission across pages.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. We access and process information from these cookies at an aggregate level.

Powered by Firmseek