Interesting medical malpractice appeal

One of the appeals granted recently by the Virginia Supreme Court includes this one in a case involving Mary Lynn Tate from Abingdon, where the issues are these:

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

1. The trial court erred in permitting defendants to introduce the opinion of the Medical Malpractice Review Panel (“MMRP”) and members’ testimony in violation of Va. Code § 8.01-581.7:1 because the Panel’s decision was rendered beyond the mandatory six month time required after the Panel was designated.
2. The trial court abused its discretion and violated the statutory requirement for panel impartiality when it permitted trial testimony from two (2) MMRP members as retained defendants’ experts and as panel members, after they had rendered panel opinions in defendants’ favor.
3. The trial court abused its discretion when it permitted the defendants to call two MMRP members as retained defendants’ experts at trial without disclosure of their retained expert status to plaintiffs.
4. The trial court erred in giving jury instructions on the issue of contributory negligence because the claimed negligent conduct of decedent was not contemporaneous with defendants’ negligence as a matter of law.
5. The trial court erred in refusing Plaintiffs’ Instructions No. P3 and No. P4 regarding concurring negligence because the evidence showed both King and Graffeo were negligent.
6. The trial court abused its discretion in permitting defendant Dr. Graffeo to recite hearsay opinions of non-testifying physicians to confirm his patient assessment.