Medicolegal
Lectures and Panel Discussions
Department
of Anesthesiology,
University
of Florida, College of Medicine
June 7,
2008
Panelists
1. Virginia M.
Buchanan. J.D. with honors,
University of Florida, 1989:
Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor, P.A.,
Pensacola, Florida.
Virginia graduated magna cum
laude from the University of Florida in 1985. While attending the University of Florida, she was a Bickel
Scholar, Scripps-Howard Scholar, and received several jurisprudence awards. She was selected to the Order of the
Coif and to Phi Delta Phi, an honors fraternity, while in school.
She is a member of the American
Bar Association and the sections pertaining to insurance, premises liability
and commercial litigation. She has
been a member of the subcommittee of the American Bar Association on
legislation affecting litigation and was appointed to a special committee of
the American Bar Association on health care. She is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of
America and the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, as well as the Florida Bar
Association. She is on the Board of Directors of the Florida Bar Foundation,
the treasurer of ABOTA, chairman of the Civil Process Server Grievance
Committee, and a member of the Chief Judge's Council on Children.
Virginia has served on the
Women's Life Center Advisory Board to the West Florida Regional Medical Center
and to the Board of Directors of the Shands Home Care Project.
She is licensed to practice law
in Florida and Alabama and specializes in medical cases and other serious cases
involving Personal Injury and Wrongful Death. She also is admitted to practice in the Northern and Middle
Divisions of the U.S. District Court and is a member of the Alabama Trial Lawyers
Association. Virginia has
published an article entitled False
Claims in the Trial Diplomacy Journal and also in Summation on the topic of
errata sheets. She is co-author of
Medicine and Law: When Worlds
Collide. Complications
in Anesthesiology, 2007.
Vbuchanan@levinlaw.com
2. Nikolaus Gravenstein, MD.
Nik is Professor of
Anesthesiology, University of Florida College of Medicine and is the former
Jerome H. Modell Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology,
University of Florida College of Medicine, a position which
he held for 12 years. His
scholarly activities include authorship and editorship of numerous journal
articles and textbooks of anesthesiology, patient monitoring. He is a well known
researcher and has served as an expert witness for many years.
3. Harvey
L. Jay, III, University of Florida, 1987, JD. Saalfield, Shad, Jay, Stokes & Inclan, PA, Jacksonville, Florida.
Harvey’s practice areas include
medical malpractice, legal malpractice, administrative law, and appellate law. He is admitted to practice in Florida
(1988); United States District
Court, Middle District of Florida (1988); United States Court of Appeals, 11th
Circuit; United
States District Court, Northern District of Florida (2003).
His professional honors and
memberships include: AV Peer
Review Rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell;
Florida Super Lawyer (2008); Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers; The
Florida Bar; The Jacksonville Bar (Member Appellate and Health Law Sections); The Florida
Supreme Court Historical Society; former member Chester Bedell Inn
of Court (Nominating and Executive Committees).
Harvey.jay@saalfieldlaw.com
4. W. Russ Jones:
J.D.University of Houston, 1985 (cum laude). W. Russ Jones, P.C. Houston, Texas.
Russ is Board Certified in
Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, with
practice focused primarily in the area of medical malpractice litigation (both
Plaintiff & Defense).
John has spent his entire legal
career in the north-central Florida area. After graduating from the University of Florida College of
Law in 1982, he spent a year as a research aide to Justice Parker Lee McDonald
of the Florida Supreme Court. He
joined Dell Graham as an associate in 1983. His practice has been concentrated in the areas of medical
malpractice defense and governmental tort liability. His clients include
hospitals, physicians, nurses and other health care providers. He also
represents school boards, community colleges and police departments.
Bar Admissions include: Florida,
1982; U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida, 1984; U.S. District
Court Middle District of Florida, 1985; U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh
Circuit, 1994; and The United States Supreme Court, 2003.
John is a member of The Florida
Bar (Committee on Professional Responsibility, 1991-1994; Committee on Judicial
Evaluation, 1994-1997;Grievance Committee, 1997-2001); Eighth Judicial Circuit
Bar Association, Defense Research Institute, Federal Bar Association, American
Bar Association, Florida Defense Lawyers Association, International Association
of Defense Counsel, American Board of Trial Advocates
Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers (inducted 2002).
johnj@dellgraham.com
6. Robert R. Kirby, MD
Bob is Emeritus
Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of Florida College of
Medicine. He is the author of
numerous scientific publications and the editor or co-editor of several
textbooks of anesthesiology and critical care medicine. He has extensive experience as an
expert witness for plaintiffs and defendants in medical malpractice cases.
Rkirby@anest.ufl.edu
7. Michael E. Mahla, MD
Mike is
the glue which holds the department educational
efforts intact. He is a Professor
of Anesthesiology at the University of Florida and is responsible for all
academic efforts involving resident education. An accomplished lecturer, his topics are a major selling
point to incoming resident applicants, and he expends more useful energy in 24
hours than most of us do in a week.
His particular expertise is anesthesiology for neurological surgery.
8. James
B. Matthews. University of
Georgia, J.D., 1983. Matthews and
Steel, Atlanta, Georgia.
Jim
specializes in representing plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases and other
cases involving serious injuries or deaths. Occasionally, he defends doctors who have been sued. He graduated from the University Of
Georgia School Of Law and was admitted to the State Bar of Georgia in 1983. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America
(1999-2007), Best Lawyers in Atlanta (1988-1007) and has been named a Georgia
Super Lawyer (2000-2007). Jim is a
member of the Gridiron Society. He
received the Award of honor from the America Baseball Coaches Association, and
he is a professional baseball scout for the St. Louis Cardinals.
He is
admitted to practice law in all Georgia trial courts and in the Georgia Court
of Appeals; the Georgia Supreme Court; the United States District Courts for
the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia; the United States
Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit; and the United States Supreme
Court. He has handled cases in
Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama,
and Texas.
He is a
member of the Atlanta Bar Association and the American Bar Association, the
General Practice and Trial Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia, and he has
served on the State Bar’s Professionalism Committee. He also has served on the Ethics Committee for the Georgia
Trial Lawyers Association, and he is a member of the Professional Negligence
Section and the Medical Negligence Litigation Group of the American Association
for Justice, the Southern Trial Lawyers Association, and the American Judicature
Society.
He has
lectured and published on various medical malpractice topics including Medical
Malpractice: Getting Ready to Depose the Defendant Doctor,” Tort Source
(American Bar Association), Vol. 6, No. e, Spring 2004
and is co-author of Medicolegal Issues and Concerns, in Kirby, Gravenstein, Lobato
and Gravenstein. Clinical Anesthesia Practice, 2nd ed.,
57-71, 2000.
jimmatthews@matthewssteellaw.com
9. Dion Ramos.
University of Houston College of Law, J.D., 1985; Tulane University School of
Law, LL.M. in Admiralty, 1986. The Ramos Law Firm, Houston, Texas.
Dion is
certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board
of Legal Specialization and Medical Malpractice Law by the American Board of
Professional Liability Attorneys. He is admitted to practice in
the states of Louisiana and Texas.
He is a frequent author and
lecturer for various subjects involving litigation, jury trials and medical malpractice
for the State Bar of Texas Professional Development Program, South Texas
College of Law CLE, and The University of Houston Law Foundation. He is
co-author of Medicine and Law: When
Worlds Collide. Complications in Anesthesiology, 2007.
dramos@ramoslaw.com
10. W. Martin Smith. Martin is a graduate of Marshall University. He began his insurance career in 1965
with the Insurance Company of North American's Jacksonville office (INA merged
in 1982 with Connecticut General to form CIGNA). In 1967 he was transferred to Gainesville where from that date
to 1975, he managed the professional liability claims arising from operations
and programs of the UF Health Science Center.
In 1975, he accepted the
position of Director of the University of Florida JHMHC Self-Insurance Program
(SIP), a program that was created in 1971, by the Florida Board of Regents to
manage the professional and general liability claims of the UF Health Science
Center, including Shands Teaching Hospital and its employees and agents. Concurrent with that appointment, he
became the Director of the University of South Florida Self-Insurance Program,
managing that program until 1988.
In 1987, he was a principal in the creation of and served as the
Director of the UF JHMHC/Jacksonville Self-Insurance Program until that
program's merger with its Gainesville counterpart in 2005.
Martin has served as President
of the UF Healthcare Education Insurance Company (HEIC) since its creation in
1995 by the SIP governing council.
HEIC provides excess liability coverage for the participants of the
Self-Insurance Program. In
addition, he currently serves as Director of the Florida State University
College of Medicine Self-Insurance Program and is a member of the Florida
Patients Compensation Fund's Board of Governors.
smithwm@shands.ufl.edu
11. Kim E.
Yozgat, J.D. Kim received his B.A. from the University of
Florida in 1984 and his J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law in
1988. He began his legal career as
an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Orlando. He went on to serve as General Counsel for the Palm Beach
County Sheriff’s Office and as a civil defense litigator in the private sector.
Kim joined the University of
Florida J. Hillis Miller Health Center Self-Insurance Program (SIP) in 2000 and
currently serves as the Senior Associate Director of Claims and
Litigation. In this position, he
is responsible for the overall direction, management and oversight of the
claims and litigation operation for the SIP and the University of Florida
Healthcare Education Insurance Company.
Mr. Yozgat also serves as the Senior Associate Director of Claims and
Litigation for the Florida State University College of Medicine Self-Insurance
Program.
yozgake@shands.ufl.edu
US
Supreme Court; Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals; Texas Eastern District Court;
Texas Northern District Court; Texas Southern District/Bankruptcy Court; Texas
Western District Court. He is certified
by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization: Personal Injury Trial Law and is co-author
of Medicine and Law: When Worlds
Collide. Complications
in Anesthesiology, 2007.