Medical malpractice; exacerbation of pre-existing mental health conditions

Summers v. Syptak, 801 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 2017)

The Virginia Supreme Court rules that in a claim by a patient that crude, offensive and sexually oriented remarks to the patient by the physician aggravated symptoms of the patient’s pre-existing multiple mental health and medical conditions, the plaintiff’s failure to designate an expert to testify that the physician’s conduct was the proximate cause of the harm experienced by the patient required dismissal under Virginia’s medical malpractice statute.

Found in DMHL Volume 36, Issue 3