Auer v. Miller, 270 Va. 172

Summary

The Supreme Court of Virginia held that Code § 8.01-581.18(B) immunized a physician from civil liability for failing to review or act on laboratory-test results that the physician had neither requested nor authorized in writing. The court also affirmed the trial court’s decision to vacate a verdict against the physician’s practice group because the evidence did not establish that its negligence was a proximate cause of the patient’s death.

Holdings

1. Code § 8.01-581.18(B) clearly and unambiguously immunizes a physician from civil liability for failing to review or act on a laboratory-test report that the physician neither requested nor authorized in writing, unless the report was provided directly by the person tested with a request for consultation. The statute is not limited to outpatient situations or nonattending physicians.
2. The trial court properly vacated the verdict against Cardiovascular Associates because the plaintiff's expert testimony did not establish that an appropriate response to the May 30 telephone calls would have destroyed a substantial possibility of Auer's survival or otherwise made survival more likely than not.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Code § 8.01-581.18(B) immunized Dr. Miller from civil liability for failing to review or act on a laboratory report that he did not request or authorize.
2. Whether the trial court erred in excluding from the jury Dr. Miller's alleged negligence concerning the laboratory report and in temporally segregating the defendants' liability.
3. Whether the trial court properly vacated the verdict against Cardiovascular Associates because the evidence did not establish that its alleged negligence proximately caused Auer's death.

Disposition

affirmed