John F. Costa

Partner
P: 
203-541-5044
F: 
203-549-6655
jfcosta@ryandelucalaw.com
vCard

John F. Costa has represented hospitals, physicians and other healthcare professionals for more than thirty years in litigation and regulatory matters. John has successfully tried numerous medical malpractice cases to verdict and has also been victorious in Connecticut’s Supreme Court. He is an active and long time member of the Connecticut Society for Healthcare Risk Management and has been a guest lecturer both locally and nationally on a number of occasions.

John’s success in the trial courts earned him recognition from The National Law Journal which cited him for receiving one of The Top Defense Verdicts of 1998. He also devotes a substantial portion of his practice to the representation of long term care facilities and professionals and has successfully defended over one hundred long term care suits by way of verdict or alternative dispute resolution.

Professional Affiliations: 
  • Connecticut Society for Healthcare Risk Management
  • Defense Research Institute
  • Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association
  • Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities
Representative Experience: 
  • Continues to represent many hospitals in complex matters claiming death, blindness and catastrophic neurological damage.
  • Continues to represent many national and local long term care chains in complex matters claiming death, neurological damage, amputations and other profound injuries.
  • Continues to represent healthcare professionals in licensing proceedings before the Department of Public Health.
  • Has mediated numerous matters involving claims of profound neurological injury and loss of life.
  • Defended federal judicial nominee in publicized trial which was held during the course of ongoing United States Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings.
  • Successfully represented a Connecticut hospital in the first case of “AIDS Phobia” which was heard by Connecticut’s Supreme Court.
Reported Decisions: 

Jefferson v. Waveny Care Center, Inc.,  134 Conn.App. 727, 39 A.3d 1239, cert. denied, 305 Conn. 925, 47 A.3d 884 (2012)

Barrett v. Danbury Hospital, 232 Conn. 242, 255, 654 A.2d 748

Greenwald v. Van Handel, 311 Conn. 370, 88 A.3d 467 (2014)

Articles: 
  • Costa, J., Is it Time for a Risk Management Privilege? Produced for the Connecticut Society for Healthcare Risk Management, December, 1997.
  • Costa, J., Sentinel Events, Privilege and Improving the Quality of Healthcare, Connecticut Law Tribune, September, 1998
  • Costa, J., Depose The Plaintiff First, Produced for the Connecticut Society for Healthcare Risk Management, June, 1999
  • Cited by The National Law Journal, April 19, 1999 issue, “Top Defense Verdicts of 1998” for defense verdict in Rosenblatt v. New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation.
  • Costa, J. and Filan, P., Handling Medical Negligence Cases in Connecticut, National Business Institute Press, May, 2004
Lectures: 
  • Medical Malpractice and Informed Consent, Danbury, Connecticut, October 1994;
  • Preparation and Investigation of a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit, New York, New York, October, 1995;
  • Preparing the Defendant Physician for Deposition, New York, New York, September, 1997;
  • Medical-Legal Issues in Primary Care, Danbury, Connecticut, November 1997;
  • Medical Malpractice, Informed Consent and the Young Physician, Danbury, Connecticut December, 1998;
  • Record Keeping and the Practice of Psychiatry, Danbury, Connecticut, December, 1998;
  • Managed Care and the Practice of Psychiatry, Danbury, Connecticut, March 1999;
  • How to Avoid a Medical Malpractice Suit, Given to Danbury Hospital Medical Staff, April, 1999;
  • Consent of a Minor, Connecticut Society for Healthcare Risk Management Annual Meeting, Wallingford, Connecticut, December, 1999
  • Preparing the Healthcare Professional for Deposition, HPM&B-sponsored CLE Law and Practice Seminar, New York, New York, June, 2000;
  • Handling Medical Negligence Cases in Connecticut, North Haven, Connecticut, May, 2004;
  • American College of Emergency Medicine, Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington, Panel Speaker, October 9, 2007
  • American College of Emergency Medicine, Annual Conference, October, 2008, Chicago, Illinois, Panel Speaker; and
  • Connecticut Society of Eye Physicians, Annual Conference, January 8, 2010, Peer Responsibilities in the Assessment of the Impaired Physician
  • Connecticut Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Society, Annual Conference, Southbury, CT, April 26, 2012
  • American Conference Institute's Long Term Care Regulatory Boot Camp, Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, , Developing Litigation Strategies, Substantive Arguments and Skills to Keep Surveys Out of Evidence. July 24 -25, 2012
  • Defense Research Institute's 12th Annual Long Term Care Conference, Las Vegas, NV, Preparation of a Medical Director of a Skilled Nursing Facility for Testimony. September 20-21, 2012
  • Presentation on Pitfalls of the Electronic Medical Record at Ophthalmological Conference, January 2017