Posts by Jonathan Petty

In a recent criminal case out of Ohio, a former physician was acquitted of 14 counts of murder after allegedly causing the deaths of his patients by ordering excessive amounts of fentanyl. The case was followed with interest by medical experts, legal professionals, doctors and nurses across the country, as the case raised significant questions…

Unless you are a medical professional, you are likely unaware of the term “never event.” Never events in healthcare are exactly what they sound like – events that should never occur; egregious and catastrophic incidents during medical treatment that typically leave a patient permanently injured or disabled, or result in death. Ken Kizer, MD first…

When you go to the doctor, you expect to receive proper and necessary treatment, including the correct medication, surgery, doctor, and care. Nobody assumes they will lose a limb because the doctor does not speak their language. However, this is exactly what happened to a patient in Knoxville, Tennessee. A recently-filed lawsuit alleges that a…

Phelan Petty partners Jonathan M. Petty and Brielle M. Hunt were recognized by Virginia Lawyers Media for securing one of the top verdicts in Virginia for 2021. Their $3 million jury verdict in a fetal death case in Henrico County was listed as #3 for the year. This verdict was the first plaintiff’s verdict in…

Even with years of schooling and training in hospital procedures, medical professionals can still make mistakes. Surgeons, hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers attempt to minimize the risks of surgery and other medical procedures through improved technology and other methods, but errors still happen. When a surgeon or other medical professional injures a patient by making…

Communication errors are a major cause of poor quality care, patient harm, and medical malpractice. Breakdowns in communication among health care providers often lead to a failure to coordinate what each health provider is doing and can cause a patient’s needs to “slip through the cracks.” Miscommunication between a doctor’s office and the patient results…

Scheduling a surgical procedure is extremely stressful. You likely have concerns about how the procedure will go. Will it be successful? Will I experience complications on the table? Are my surgeon and surgical team experienced and ready? The truth is, for some patients, even when the procedure goes completely as planned, any errors made before…

Most patients, when scheduling any type of surgery or medical procedure, do their due diligence. They ask their specialist or primary care physician to recommend the surgeon best suited to perform their specific surgery. They reach out to family and friends who have undergone the same procedure and ask for the name of the surgeon…

After a three-day trial and just over nine hours of deliberation, a Henrico County jury returned a verdict in the amount of three million dollars, plus interest, on behalf of our medical malpractice client following the death of her unborn son. The verdict, which came back on April 29, 2021, is Virginia’s first plaintiff’s medical…