Special Rules for Virginia Medical Malpractice Cases

Virginia has some of the toughest rules of any state for medical malpractice plaintiffs. Not only does the state place a cap on the amount of damages you can recover from a doctor, but it also offers a short, unforgiving statute of limitations.

Virginia Damages Cap

In Virginia, all medical malpractice cases are limited. Until July 1, 2008, the cap will be $1,925,000. Starting on July 1, the caps will rise for a final time to $2,000,000 for any act of medical malpractice. While this may seem like a large number, consider the patient who requires several surgeries and extended hospital stays to correct a physician’s mistake. $2 million is the most that the doctor and his insurance company will be liable for, no matter what the ultimate cost to the patient is.

Additionally, because these caps are for the amount of damages incurred by the patient, the total amount recoverable is $2M even if 4 or 5 different doctors were liable. In Virginia, a settlement or judgment against one defendant can be used to reduce the maximum liability of all others.

Finally, punitive damages are limited to $350,000. Punitive damages are designed to punish egregious behavior and deter doctors from being grossly negligent in their treatment.

Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations

Virginia has a very strict statute of limitations. A “statute of limitations” is the length of time from the date of the injury that a plaintiff is allowed to file a lawsuit. If the plaintiff waits to long to file the suit, it will be barred by the court – no matter how wrongfully the doctor acted.

Medical malpractice lawsuits in Virginia must be brought within two years of the date of the injury. This means you have two years from the date of the botched surgery, mishandled medication, or incorrect diagnosis to file a lawsuit. The vast majority of other states have adopted the “discovery rule,” which means that the clock begins to “tick” from the time that you discovered or should have reasonably discovered the injury. This means that if the doctor misdiagnoses cancer and you don’t discover his error until two years and one day later, you may not file suit.

The sole exception to this is the lost foreign object case. If a surgeon leaves a surgical sponge or other implement inside a patient, that patient has one ear from the date that the object should have been discovered to file suit. But even this rule is limited to a 10 year “statute of ultimate repose.”


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