Peter F. Spataro

Peter Spataro primarily concentrates his practice in medical malpractice defense and risk management for physicians and hospitals in Missouri and Illinois. He has defended and tried malpractice suits for virtually every medical specialty, of which approximately 90 percent of the trials resulted in defense verdicts. He is considered one of the lead counsel for The Washington University School of Medicine, one of the top medical schools and research centers in the United States. He is frequently asked to represent the University in its most serious cases and to defend suits brought against its department heads. He defends much of the litigation brought against the University’s Department of Neurological Surgery and assists the University in suits involving research issues with its Human Studies Committee.

Mr. Spataro has written articles on the defense of malpractice cases and regularly lectures on risk management and the defense of medical malpractice actions at medical and law schools, physicians, risk managers and members of the St. Louis Bar. He has defended physicians and dentists before the Missouri Board of Healing Arts and Missouri Dental Board. He has assisted his client physicians with complaints filed against opposing expert witness colleagues before national specialty organizations such as the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He was counsel for the Missouri State Medical Association regarding its stock ownership of the former Missouri Medical Insurance Company. He was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Interlex Insurance Company, a professional liability insurance company for lawyers.