Sandi Douglas has spent her career as a litigator handling a broad range of cases for the defense. She has litigated cases in the areas of professional liability, workplace violence, products liability, general casualty, civil rights, intellectual property, employment law, and commercial litigation. Having handled cases from the trial to appellate levels in both state and federal courts, Ms. Douglas is seasoned in case evaluation and assessment as well as litigation strategy and management.
Ms. Douglas’s defense practice has a significant focus on representing healthcare providers both in litigation and before regulatory boards. With a strong record of defense verdicts and favorable case resolutions, she handles a wide variety of cases involving nearly every medical specialty. Ms. Douglas has represented healthcare providers and healthcare institutions, including hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers, physician practices, and state government entities and employees. “In addition to carefully preparing an effective defense, I approach each case with attention to the emotional toll litigation takes on the healthcare professional,” says Ms. Douglas. She is a member of the firm’s multi-disciplinary team that monitors post-Dobbs developments on all fronts and provides advice to healthcare providers regarding critical situations.
Ms. Douglas has extensive experience defending mental health providers in litigation involving claims of a duty to protect or a duty to warn as well as defending businesses and employees following workplace violence. Ms. Douglas represented the mental health providers in the litigation that followed the deadliest mass shooting at a university in U.S. history and she has handled litigation following high-profile crimes in both healthcare and educational settings. Through this representation, she has gained expertise in threat assessment and has worked with some of the leading threat assessment experts in the country.
Ms. Douglas also has experience in corporate compliance, risk management and conducting internal investigations. She is certified in both Healthcare Compliance (CHC) and Healthcare Privacy Compliance (CHPC) by the Compliance Certification Board. She completed George Washington University’s graduate program in Healthcare Corporate Compliance taught by industry experts including current and former regulators from CMS, OIG, DOJ, and OCR. Ms. Douglas has an in-depth understanding of the current regulatory focus on quality of care and patient safety. Ms. Douglas says, “With the shift from fee-for-service to value-based delivery and payment models, attorneys defending healthcare providers in medical malpractice, professional regulatory board investigations, and credentialing and peer review matters provide further value to the providers when they are attentive to potential regulatory enforcement actions. Lawyers handling these matters are uniquely positioned to identify and mitigate potential regulatory enforcement issues.”
Ms. Doulgas has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America® in the area of Healthcare Law and has been named to the 2024 Class of Influential Women of Law by Viriginia Lawyers Weekly.
Representative engagements involving workplace safety and crisis management matters include:
• Represented mental health providers in duty to protect/duty to warn litigation that followed the deadliest mass shooting at a university in U.S. history.
• Represented members of threat assessment team in litigation that followed tip to university regarding potential suicidal ideation of off-campus student.
• Represented mental health providers in duty to protect/duty to warn litigation that followed on-campus murder of student by another student.
• Represented school administrator in litigation that followed on campus elementary school shooting
Academic Credentials:
Virginia Commonwealth University, B.A.
Washington & Lee University School of Law, J.D.
Admitted to Practice:
Virginia
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