Healthcare Group

Roberts Carroll Feldstein & Peirce’s Healthcare Group offers a one-stop, com­prehensive, industry-focused platform of proven experience, knowledge, re­sources and success serving the complex needs and challenges facing health care providers in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. For over 40 years, members of our Healthcare Group have provided informed, responsive and cost-effective legal representation to health care clients who are operating in a highly competitive environment while managing the burden of intense regulation and compliance within a financial framework of expand­ing costs and shrinking reimbursements.

Our Healthcare Group provides extensive experience in all types of business matters and transactions, a breadth of knowledge of the sector’s regulatory and compliance environment and a medical malpractice defense team, widely considered Rhode Island’s preeminent practice, with an established record of success in jury trials.

We also counsel clients in areas of risk management, cer­tificates of need, professional accreditation, creden­tialing, licensing and disciplinary actions as well as matters related to HIPAA, Medicare, Medicaid and ERISA.

Combining the experience and skills of relevant practices across the firm, our team of seasoned attorneys appears regularly before the Rhode Island Depart­ment of Health, the Board of Medical Licensure and Dis­cipline, and the Rhode Island General Assembly. Whether serving as lead trial attorney in a landmark professional liability case, or advisor on a critical employee issue, our goal is to become our client’s business partner as well as legal counsel, bringing a keen awareness of the current and emerging trends affecting all parties operating in this dynamic and challenging industry.

Representative Healthcare Clients

Clients of the Healthcare Group include:

  • Physicians, Dentists and other Healthcare Providers
  • Practice Groups
  • Hospitals
  • Long Term Care Facilities
  • Professional Liability Insurers

Representative Matters

  • Advised two hospital chains comprising a majority of hospital institutions in Rhode Island regarding implementation of the federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 and the Rhode Island Patent Safety Act.
  • Assisted a nursing home through a re-financing via the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  • Advised hospitals regarding their obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).
  • Presently acting as co-chief defense counsel in class action pending Rhode Island’s trial court involving fifty defendants regarding the use of intrauterine devices.
  • Advised two hospital chains comprising a majority of hospital institutions in Rhode Island regarding implementation of the federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 and the Rhode Island Patent Safety Act.
  • After four week jury trial, obtained a defense verdict for a gastroenterologist who was alleged to have failed to properly diagnose and treat an infection which ultimately led to the loss of the plaintiff’s eye. 
  • Guided an assisted living facility through a tax-exempt financing.
  • Negotiated an agreement between a Rhode Island based distributor and a publicly traded, multi-national medical device provider. 
  • Successfully represented hospital and obstetrician in proceeding before the family court concerning the hospital’s ability to provide blood products to a pregnant minor, whose parents objected on 1st amendment grounds.
  • Secured a dismissal without payment on behalf of an obstetrician of a lawsuit, which alleged that the doctor had failed to properly manage labor and delivery of a patient in preterm labor and that a result the child had significant impairments including cerebral palsy and optic nerve damage
  • Received a defense verdict for a general surgeon in a case arising out of bowel perforation where the plaintiff sought $2,000,000 from the jury. 

Presentations Or Publications

  • Food For Thought – Privilege Logs, Rhode Island Bar Association, December 2 & 9, 2009
  • White Caps: Navigating Risk In The Nursing Profession, Unap/Rhode Island Hospital Health Care Education Trust Continuing Education Program, March 18, 2010
  • Anywhere But Here: How To Save Yourself From A Disastrous Deposition, University Emergency Medicine Foundation Faculty/Resident Education, November 17, 2010
  • Cases & Claims: Lessons Learned From Radiology Malpractice Lawsuits, September 21, 2010
  • Informed Consent for Medical Practice Administrators, Women & Infants Hospital Practice Managers Conference, November 1, 2011; Kent Hospital Practice Managers Conference, June 14, 2011.
  • Your Practice and RI Mental Health Law: Navigating the Waters, Rhode Island Psychological Association, April 8, 2011.
  • Medical Battery, Kent Hospital Risk Management Educational Session, April 14, 2011.
  • Appearing Before the Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline, Kent Hospital Risk Management Educational Session, March 10, 2011.
  • Electronic Medical Records, 6th Annual Risk Management Pediatric Conference: Women & Infants Hospital, November 7, 2009.
  • Best Practices: Avoiding and Defending Malpractice Suits and Claims, Care New England Risk Management, Risk Management Pediatric Conference, , November 5, 2011
  • Tips on Testifying As An Expert Witness Butler Hospital, Psychiatry Residents Seminar, annually since 2007
  • Never Say Never Events, South County Hospital, Care New England, Kent Hospital
  • Reporting Abuse In Rhode Island, Care New England Conference, April 10, 2008
  • Everything You Wanted to Know About the Litigation Process But Were Afraid to Ask, Care New England Conference, Perinatal Management Conference, Everything, January 9, 2008