Victoria is the supervising attorney for the Health Care Liability Practice Group in the Scranton office. She is an experienced litigator with nearly 20 years of experience representing physicians, midwives, nurse practitioners, nurses, physical therapists, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities, personal care homes, home health care providers and physician practice groups in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Victoria is a proven trial attorney and highly successful negotiator. She also provides risk management services.
Prior to joining Marshall Dennehey in 2008, Victoria was a partner in the Boston office of a large litigation firm, where she represented health care professionals and entities in malpractice suits and manufacturers in products liability matters. She is a 1998 graduate of Suffolk University Law School. Victoria obtained her undergraduate degree in communications and political science in 1994 from the University of Rhode Island, where she was the 1994 student commencement speaker and captain of the debate team.
Victoria was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is a dual citizen of the United States of America and South Africa.
Honors & awards
BV Distinguished by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell
International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)
2006 Trial Academy, attendee
Massachusetts Super Lawyer Rising Star
2007
Year joined
2008
Results
Defense arbitration award in a podiatric surgical malpractice case.
Health Care Liability
March 2, 2020
The 55-year-old plaintiff underwent tarsal tunnel surgery. She developed post-operative complications, including infection, and required two additional surgeries, including a sural artery flap graft. The plaintiff gained over 100 pounds after the podiatric surgeries and underwent gastric bypass surgery. She alleged it was required as the result of being sedentary from the podiatric surgeries and complications.
Plaintiff’s case not on the right foot.
Health Care Liability
July 25, 2019
We received a defense verdict in a podiatric surgical malpractice arbitration. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant podiatrist negligently performed foot surgery, causing her foot deformities to worsen and resulting in shooting pain in her big toe, pain under her second and third toes, and imbalance. Her husband claimed loss of spousal consortium. The defense successfully argued that the surgery was performed reasonably and within the standard of care, and that the plaintiff developed known and accepted risks and complications of the surgery.
Defense Verdict for Midwife.
Health Care Liability
August 24, 2018
Marshall Dennehey's health care attorneys obtained a defense verdict on behalf of a midwife in a case involving alleged failure to properly manage and care for a patient’s labor and delivery, resulting in catastrophic injury to her child. Counsel for the minor-plaintiff argued that the pregnancy and labor were high risk. Therefore, it was below the standard of care to use intermittent auscultation (IA) during the second stage of labor.
Defense Puts Podiatrist on the Right Foot
Health Care Liability
February 16, 2015
Obtained a defense verdict in favor of a podiatrist who was claimed to have made a delayed diagnosis of melanoma of the foot in a 65-year-old male patient, resulting in lymph node involvement and metastasis to the lungs. The defendant treated his patient for seven months before performing a biopsy. The plaintiff's experts contended that an immediate biopsy was mandated because the lesion on the foot bled during debridement, was painful, and must have had a suspicious appearance because it was malignant.
Thought Leadership
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin Elects New Shareholders
December 14, 2012
Philadelphia, PA - Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin is pleased to announce that the following 13 attorneys were elected shareholders at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting on December 11, 2012: Christoph
Enforceability of Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements in Pennsylvania
Scranton
Long-Term Care Liability
December 1, 2014
By Victoria C. Scanlon, Esq.*Key Points: Defense Digest, Vol. 20, No. 4, December 2014
Use caution when asking for a jury instruction in a medical battery/lack of consent claim.
Health Care Liability
October 1, 2012
The Supreme Court affirmed that the jury charge given in a medical battery/lack-of-consent claim, which included intent to cause harm language, in its entirety, clearly and accurately set forth in the law. Case Law Alert - 4th Qtr 2012
When must the MCARE Fund defend under Section 715 status?
Health Care Liability
July 1, 2012
The Supreme Court held that the MCARE Fund owed a duty to assume the obligations of the primary insurer where the defendant physician and his insurer first received notice of the claim more than four years after the events giving rise to liability Case Law Alert - 3rd Qtr 2012
Physician successful in obtaining excess coverage after denial by hearing officer.
Health Care Liability
April 1, 2012
The Mcare Fund denied Dr. Wolfson excess coverage because it alleged that he received notice of a claim prior to the Mcare Fund's receipt of his assessment payment for that calendar year. Case Law Alert - 2nd Qtr 2012
Plaintiffs expert for certificate of merit purposes must have qualifications such that a trial court would find them sufficient to allow that expert to testify at trial.
Health Care Liability
January 1, 2012
If a plaintiff's claim against a medical professional is meritless and the matter is terminated, it may be worthwhile to request from plaintiff's counsel, pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. No. Case Law Alert - 1st Qtr 2012
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Classes/Seminars Taught
Advanced Practice Clinicians in Health Care: What Your Facility Needs to Know, ASHRM 2018 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee, October 8, 2018
Mock Depositions: What the Child Psychiatrist Needs to Know Before Sitting in the Hot Seat, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 64th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., October 27, 2017
Mock Trial: Lessons for Psychiatrists from the Bar and Risk Management, New York-Presbyterian Hospital Child Psychiatry Residency, New York University Child Psychiatry Residency, Weill Cornell Psychiatry Residency Programs, Allied World, August 2017
Medical Malpractice Case Study - Suicide and the Defense of a Wrongful Death Claim, Pennsylvania Association of Health Care Risk Management (PAHCRM), Annual Conference, September 9, 2016
Ostensible Agency and Corporate Liability Claims: What You Need to Know, Health Care and Health Law Seminar, Marshall Dennehey, November 5, 2015
Mock Trial: Lessons for Psychiatrists From the Bar and Risk Management, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, October 30, 2015
Peer Review, Charting Pitfalls/Issues and Anticipated Legal Issues Pertaining to the Electronic Medical Record, Northeast Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Senior Services, Continuing Education Conference, April 2009