Helpful Internet Resources

Medical Malpractice

• Institute of Medicine: "What You Can Do To Prevent Medication Errors": This Fact Sheet provides useful tips to prevent medication errors regardless of whether you are at home or in the hospital.
• People Over Profits: People Over Profits is committed to fighting back against the well-organized and well-funded assault on the civil justice system, and protecting American civil rights and trial by jury. The attorneys at Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. share the commitment of People Over Profits to protect the right to trial by jury.
• Preventing Medical Errors: The Institute of Medicine estimates that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year due to preventable medical errors. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's website provides helpful information for patients to be advocates for their own safety when undergoing medical care.
• Virginia Practitioner Database: The Virginia Board of Medicine's databank provides important information about all medical doctors and podiatrists licensed in Virginia. At this website you can research the educational background of doctors as well as whether they have ever settled a medical malpractice claim or had a judgment entered against them.
• Medline: Medline provides abstracts of medical literature from peer reviewed journals. The full text of many of the articles are available online.

Retained Objects From Surgery

• Prevention of Retained Foreign Bodies: This article published by The American College of Surgeons addresses the incidence of foreign bodies retained after surgery and steps surgeons and nurses can take to prevent these serious injuries. The article suggests that most major hospitals have at least one patient who is injured every year because of a retained foreign body.
• Prevention of Unintended Retained Foreign Objects in Surgery: This link takes you to a scholarly article on steps health care providers can take to prevent unintended retained foreign objects in surgery.
• The Retained Surgical Sponge: This article discusses the frequency of retained foreign objects as well as the mortality rates.

Nursing Home and Elder Abuse

• Involuntary Transfer and Discharge of Nursing Home Patients: The Nursing Home Reform Law of 1987 protects nursing home patients from involuntary transfer and discharge. Patients can only be transferred or discharged from a nursing home under limited circumstances. In most cases the nursing home must give the patient at least 30 days notice. The National Consumer Voice for Long Term Care provides a useful guide to the rights of nursing home patients against involuntary transfer or discharge. If you believe a loved one has been wrongfully transferred or discharged from a nursing home, please call us at (804) 288-1661 to discuss your legal rights.
• Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Website: Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C.'s Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect website provides information about legal remedies against nursing homes and assisted living facilites that abuse and neglect the elderly. On this website you can learn more about our attorneys' experience in representing victims of elder abuse and neglect as well as the laws governing nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
• Regulations Restricting the Use of Restraints in Nursing Homes: The Virginia Department of Health bans the use of physical and chemical restraints of nursing home patients except in limited circumstances. This link provides an overview of patient rights to be free from restraints.
• Virginia Department of Health - Nursing Home Complaint Form: If you believe a loved one has been mistreated in a nursing home you can file a complaint with the Virginia Department of Health.
• Rules and Regulations for Virginia Nursing Homes: This link takes you to a list of the rules and regulations nursing homes are required to follow in Virginia.
• Types of Abuse in Nursing Homes: Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. has created a website devoted to the rights of nursing home patients and assisted living facility residents. This link provides valuable information about the signs and symptoms of the most commonly types of abuse committed against the elderly.
• Virginia Assisted Living Facility Inspection Reports: The Virginia Department of Social Services inspects and licenses assisted living facilities. At this website you can learn how individual assisted living facilities performed at their recent inspections and whether the facility has been recently sanctioned.

Products Liability

• National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB): The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) provides valuable safety information for consumers ranging from recommendations on child safety seats to traffic safety to aviation accident investigations.
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA): The FDA's website provides valuable information about product recalls, investigations, and safety information.
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - Product Recalls: Features safety recall information for automobiles, school buses, child safety seats, and defect investigations.
• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: Every year thousands of people are injured or killed due to defective products. The CPSC's website provides useful information including searchables lists of recalled products.

General

• Virginia Trial Lawyers Association: The Virginia Trial Lawyers Association is a voluntary bar association. Tom Williamson is a past president of the VTLA. Several attorneys at Williamson & Lavecchia currently serve on the Board of Governors.
• Findlaw: Findlaw.com provides convenient access to state and federal laws, court opinions, and regulations.
• Code of Virginia (searchable index): Searchable index of the Code of Virginia.
• Virginia Judicial System: From this website you can access the websites of the Virginia Supreme Court, Virginia Court of Appeals, and the Virginia Circuit Courts. The website also provides useful legal forms and information about the courts of Virginia.
• Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals: The opinions of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals are available through a searchable index provided by Emory University. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reviews federal court cases arising out of Virginia and other mid-Atlantic states.

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