Ryan Donihue
Biography
Ryan M. Donihue is a Partner in the Atlanta office, and he has decades of experience in defending clients all over the country in complex litigation such as medical malpractice, birth trauma, catastrophic injury, and other high-exposure medical claims.
Ryan represents insurers, hospitals, physician groups, laboratories, and other health care organizations on a wide variety of both litigation and health care related matters. In addition to working with health care organizations, he also represents doctors, nurses, obstetricians, midwives, labor and delivery nurses, neonatologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, podiatrists, and health care professionals in complex medical malpractice actions and related issues.
Ryan has significant experience handling medical malpractice class actions and batch claims. Specifically, he is at the forefront of defending these types of specialty actions and claims having extensively litigated them across the United States.
As a co-leader of the Dental practice group at HBS, Ryan has a specialty practice in representing dentists, hygienists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, orthodontists, and other dental providers in the wide variety of claims they may face.
Ryan’s work with health care providers goes far beyond litigation defense. He also represents professionals across the entire health care spectrum in disciplinary proceedings, licensing issues, internal investigations, contracts and employment issues, and other day-to-day needs.
A sought-after lecturer throughout the country, Ryan is often invited to speak to professionals, health care institutions, and insurance companies on how to effectively defend complex medical and dental malpractice actions. He frequently publishes articles about a wide range of medical malpractice and health care issues.
Before joining HBS, Ryan was a Partner with Martin Clearwater & Bell, LLP, which was the oldest medical malpractice defense and health care firm in the state of New York. Earlier in his career, he was an Assistant Corporation Counsel with the New York City Law Department, where he represented hospitals and health care providers in the Medical Malpractice Unit of the Office of the Corporation Counsel.
Ryan earned a Juris Doctor with a focus on health law from New York Law School, and he received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Puget Sound.
Experience
Ryan Donihue is a member of the Coronavirus Strategic Team, which is a dedicated team of experienced attorneys that help businesses, governments, schools, and individuals develop best practices for closures, re-openings, and other complex legal and operational issues that arise during the unprecedented global pandemic. Our team includes attorneys who specialize in medical malpractice, aging services, liability, employment, insurance, regulatory matters, and other areas most impacted by the novel coronavirus.
Ryan is a co-leader of the Dental practice group. He specializes in the representation and defense of oral and maxillofacial surgeons, periodontists, orthodontists, endodontists, general dentists, pediatric dentists, hygienists, and their practices and staff members in malpractice actions. Additionally, he has extensively represented dentists at professional licensing matters before the state board. Ryan has also published articles and lectured on the developing trends in dental malpractice and affirmative steps to take in order to avoid professional discipline by the state board.
Ryan focuses his practice on the defense of hospitals, physicians, midwives, nurses, and institutional employees in birth trauma and catastrophic injury cases. He also represents and defends health care institutions, private practices, physicians, psychologists, nurses, physician assistants, medical students, and medical practice staff members in complex medical malpractice actions from inception through trial.
Ryan has extensive experience representing health care professionals before state Boards in licensing and disciplinary matters. Finally, he has lectured at hospital grand rounds, discussing the increasing trends in malpractice actions, state investigations and professional discipline cases.
Credentials
Admitted
State Courts:
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Missouri
- Montana
- New York
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Texas
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Education
- J.D., New York Law School
- B.A., University of Puget Sound
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- American Society For Cytotechnology
- Connecticut State Bar Association, Healthcare Committee
- Defense Research Institute (DRI)
- Georgia State Bar Association
- National Institute, Trial Lawyers Association
- New York State Bar Association, Healthcare Committee
- North Carolina State Bar Association
- Physician Insurers Association of America
Presentations
- A Simulated Dental Malpractice Trial: as Real as it Gets Without Being in Court
Rocky Mountain Dental Convention; January 19, 2024 - Public Quality Data 101: Understanding Institutional Aging
Annual Long Term Care Insurance ExecuSummit; September 12, 2023 - Taking Back the Defense
National Pediatric Risk Managers Meeting; March 2, 2023 - Simulated Malpractice Mock Trial: COVID-19 Lawsuit
2020 ADA FDC Virtual Connect Conference, October 2020
- A Simulated Dental Practice Court Case Presented Live – Oral Cancer Misdiagnosis
Rocky Mountain Dental Convention, January 2018 - Can Your Dental Team Help Defend You in a Malpractice Lawsuit?
American Dental Association Meeting, October 2017 - Informed Consent: Why, Where and How to Make it Work
American Dental Association Meeting, October 2017 - Dental Mock Trial
Southwest Dental Conference, September 2017 - Rising Tide of Civil Litigation: Defense of Dentists & Battling Expert Testimony
Georgia Dental Association’s Annual Meeting at Amelia Island, July 2017 - A Simulated Dental Malpractice Trial Presentation
California Dental Association, May 2017 - Discover the Lost Tribes: Physician Malpractice Panel
Panel discussion, Crittenden Medical Insurance Conference in Miami, FL, April 2017 - A Simulated Dental Malpractice Trial Presentation
Annual Hinman Dental Meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center and Omni Hotel, March 2017 - A Simulated Dental Malpractice Trial Presentation
American Dental Association Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, October 2016 - CNA Dental Professional Liability
Risk Management seminar, October 2016 - Ethics, Jurisprudence and Dentistry
Georgia Regents University, March 2016 - A Simulated Dental Malpractice Trial Presentation
American Dental Association’s 156th ADA Annual Session, November 11, 2015 - Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants: Liability Issues and Scope of Practice
Invited Speaker, American Conference Institute - Elopement and Related Issues
Invited Speaker, Grand Rounds, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics - Documentation and Disclosure of Protected Pediatric Patient Information
Invited Speaker, Grand Rounds, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics - Rising Malpractice Trends in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Invited Speaker, Grand Rounds, New York Medical College, Depatrment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery - Defensive Practice Techniques by Healthcare Workers
Invited Speaker, City University of New York Department of Health Sciences - Step-by-Step Approach to Defending Malpractice Actions and Relate Healthcare Issues
Invited Speaker, City University of New York Department of Health Sciences - Successful Approach to Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Invited Speaker, City University of New York Department of Health Sciences - Legal Perspective: Maintaining Ethics and Other Aspects of Your Practice
American Psychological Association (APA) Conference, August 2021
Publications
- Qualified Settlement Fund: An often overlooked and underutilized tool to ensure final resolution and client protection from third-party lien holders
HBS Catastrophic Injury Litigation Blog; July 19, 2021 - ACOG Provides Guidance To Healthcare Practitioners Whose Patients Are “At-Risk” For Coronavirus Disease-2019
HBS Coronavirus Litigation Blog; March 20, 2020 - The Impact Of The National Opioid Epidemic On Obstetric, Maternal-Fetal, Neonatal & Pediatrc Medicine
HBS Opioid Task Force Blog, April 2018 - Demystifying the Office of Professional Discipline and its Investigative Process
Martin Clearwater & Bell Defense Practice Update, October 2014
- Defending a Lack of Informed Consent Claim in Mini-Dental Implant Surgery
Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company Dental Dateline, Fall 2011 - The Responsibilities of the General Dentist to Screen Patients for Oral Cancers
Martin Clearwater & Bell LLP Bulletin, Summer 2011