Contract dispute leaves patients in dark
Patients of several Virginia Beach psychiatrists showed up for appointments Wednesday morning, only to discover their therapists were no longer there. Those patients appear to be caught in the middle of a contract dispute at Atlantic Psychiatric Services. 10 On Your Side did some digging on the dispute, which affects hundreds of patients.

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Fewer workers filed claims for discrimination last year
Local complaints about workplace discrimination - particularly claims of racism - dropped last year, according to statistics compiled by the Norfolk office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The number of complaints totaled 951 last year, down 3 percent from 985 in 2011. Racism remained the most prevalent accusation, but the number of racial complaints fell 12 percent, to 394 from 447. That was the lowest number in that category in Hampton Roads for at least five years.

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How to Stop Hospitals from Killing Us

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Employers want your Facebook password
Is it legal?
“It is potentially a violation of a general privacy right. There is nothing I can think of right now in Virginia that would protect an applicant if they say no and then they don't get the job," said Attorney Lisa Bertini, of Bertini & Hammer, PC.

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Local lawyer discusses Facebook privacy
Some employers are demanding applicants hand over their Facebook password as part of a background check. But is this legal? WAVY.com spoke with Norfolk Attorney Lisa Bertini who said it is "potentially a violation of a general privacy right."

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Amberley Hammer successfully settled a wrongful death case for $1.7 million for the lovely family of an eighteen month old little boy who presented to the emergency room with respiratory distress. The baby’s respiratory distress was untreated and mismanaged resulting in his cardiac arrest and death.

Lisa Bertini, as co-chair of the VTLA employment and civil rights section, hosted a luncheon where Whistleblowing Law was highlighted. The Supreme Court case Ligon v. County of Goochland was discussed in detail from the time the client made his complaint of fraud and abuse of taxpayer recourses to the filing of the defamation and Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act case.

Infant suffers brain injury from placental abruption
Settlement: $2.3 million
At 35 weeks pregnant, plaintiff went to the labor and delivery emergency room at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, complaining of severe lower abdominal cramping that started earlier that morning with a pain level of 8 on a scale of 10. She was not connected to a fetal heart monitor for almost one hour after her presentation. Once she was placed on a fetal heart monitor; the fetal heart rate pattern had a minimal variability and was non-reactive, a very alarming sign. A physician was not notified until approximately one hour after that time. An emergency cesarean section was performed over two-and-a-half hours after admission for severe fetal bradycardia and possible placental abruption. The findings during the c-section were a complete placental abruption. The baby suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury that is permanent, and she will require lifelong care. The case was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act. [11-T-044]

U.S. to pay $2.3 million to settle malpractice case

Lisa A. Bertini has been inducted into the Litigation Counsel of America which includes induction into the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute. Fellowship is highly selective and by invitation only based on effectiveness, accomplishment, and superior ethical reputation. It is an honorary society that is aggressively diverse in its composition and consists of less than one percent of elite trial and appellate lawyers in North America.

B&H In the News

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