Virginia Code 8.01-581.4: Submission of evidence to panel; depositions and discovery; duties of chairman; access to material.
The evidence to be considered by the medical review panel shall be promptly submitted by the respective parties, upon appointment of the panel, to each member of the panel in written form. Either party, upon request, shall be granted a hearing before the panel. The evidence may consist of medical charts, X-rays, laboratory tests, excerpts of treatises, and depositions of witnesses, including parties, and, when a hearing is held, oral testimony before the panel. The parties shall submit to the panel members only those portions of deposition transcripts, medical records, treatises and other documents which are relevant to the claim. However, upon request of the judge, a party shall produce all or part of any such document submitted. At the discretion of the judge, additional depositions of parties and witnesses may be taken, or other additional discovery may be had, at any time prior to hearing by any party. The judge shall rule on the admissibility of all or any part of a deposition offered as evidence at the hearing. Either party may have discovery pursuant to procedures set out in Part Four of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia prior to appointment of the panel or thereafter in the discretion of the judge.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 8.01-581.4
- Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
- Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
Process shall be returnable to the office of the clerk where the action was filed and shall issue under the style of the case as filed. Process for discovery shall issue upon application to the clerk. Any such discovery and any depositions taken for purposes of discovery or otherwise, under this section, may be used in the action filed for any purpose otherwise proper under Part Four of the Rules of Court. The judge of the panel shall advise the panel relative to any legal question involved in the review proceeding and shall prepare the opinion of the panel as provided in § 8.01-581.7. All parties shall have full access to any material submitted to the panel.
Code 1950, § 8-914; 1976, c. 611; 1977, c. 617; 1979, c. 261; 1984, c. 777; 1986, c. 227; 1993, c. 928.