An opinion of the medical review panel shall be admissible as evidence in the action brought by the plaintiff, but shall not be conclusive. Either party shall have the right to call, at his cost, any member of the panel, except the judge, as a witness. If called, each witness shall be required to appear and testify. The panelist shall have absolute immunity from civil liability for all communications, findings, opinions and conclusions made in the course and scope of duties prescribed by this chapter.
Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-581.8
Admissibility of opinion as evidence; appearance of panel members as witnesses; immunity from civil liability
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case DiAntonio v. Northampton-Accomack Memorial Hospital (1980)
Most recently applied in 198 W. Va. 447 - Lane v. Boston Scientific Corp. (December 1996)
Code 1950, § 8-918; 1976, c. 611; 1977, c. 617; 1978, c. 406; 1993, c. 928.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Virginia Law Portal (LIS). Reproduced from public-domain Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.