Missy is a member of the Health Care Department where she focuses her practice on the defense of professional medical negligence and premises liability claims, as well as medical licensing matters before licensing boards such as the Pennsylvania Boards of Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, Nursing, and Psychology. Her individual clients include physicians, nurses, Patient Care Technicians (PCTs), Certified Nurses Aides (CNAs), therapists, mental health professionals, and other health care providers. Missy’s institutional clients include acute and rehabilitation hospitals, long-term and skilled nursing facilities, correctional medicine providers, and outpatient dialysis facilities.
Missy has handled matters encompassing a wide range of medical issues, including retained foreign objects, ob/gyn, wound care, patient falls, and neurological injuries. She has significant jury trial, arbitration, mediation, appellate, and administrative law experience.
After receiving her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College, where she played intercollegiate soccer and spent her junior year in Paris, France and Yaounde, Cameroon, Missy graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs with a J.D. and a Master's Degree in International Affairs.
Missy's bar admissions include the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and U.S. District Court for the Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She is frequently called upon to lecture on a wide array of topics in the field of health care litigation.
Outside of her professional career, Missy is an active volunteer in her local community. She served as a Girl Scout leader to a troop that advanced from Brownie to Ambassador. She interviewed prospective high school students for admission to Wellesley College as an alumna volunteer and served as the President and Vice President of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Wellesley College Club. She worked as a puppy sitter for the Susquehanna Service Dog. An avid skier, Missy co-founded and continues to lead the Camp Hill Middle and High School Ski & Snowboard Club. In addition, Missy is currently a Member and the Secretary of the Cleve J. Fredricksen Library Board of Trustees.
Honors & awards
AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell
Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star
2006-2007
Year joined
2015
Results
Defense Award Obtained in a Contested Wound Case
Long-Term Care Liability
March 7, 2025
We secured a defense award on behalf of a skilled nursing facility in a hotly contested “wound” case after a two-day arbitration. The 93-year-old plaintiff had been a resident at the nursing facility for over three years without having suffered any pressure injuries, despite a plethora of risk factors. In August 2019, she was transferred emergently to an acute care hospital where she was diagnosed with a myocardial infarction (MI) and cardiogenic shock.
Defense Verdict in Ohio Medical Malpractice Case
Health Care Liability
January 27, 2025
We obtained a medical malpractice defense verdict on behalf of a skilled nursing facility in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland, Ohio. The children of an 82-year-old skilled nursing resident brought a lawsuit after their mother developed shingles and associated meningitis and passed away. They claimed the facility had inadequate infection control and failed to identify signs/symptoms of developing changes in their mother’s condition.
Thought Leadership
The New and Broadened Law Governing Venue in Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Cases
Harrisburg
Health Care Liability
March 1, 2023
Defense Digest, Vol. 29, No.
Marshall Dennehey Announces 2022 New Shareholder Class -- With 10 women and 7 men, the class has one of the highest percentages of women in the firm’s 60-year history
January 3, 2022
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin is pleased to announce that 17 attorneys, 10 women and 7 men, have been elevated to shareholder, effective January 1, 2022.
Classes/Seminars Taught
Mitigating and Responding to a Professional Liability Claim: Documentation, Discovery, and Depositions, Skilled Nursing Development Institute's Administrator Appreciation Event, August 6, 2025
Arbitration Agreements: Hot Topics and Best Practices, client webinar, March 19, 2025
Trends, Tips, and Tricks in the Defense of Long-Term Care Facilities, PACHRM/PDI Conference, July 14, 2023
From Arbitrations to Schedule Zs: Trends, Tips and Tricks to Navigate the Written Discovery Process in Long-Term Care Civil Litigation, Marshall Dennehey Trends in Health Care and Health Law Seminar, May 5, 2022
Reduce Your Risk: Understanding the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), February 18, 2021
Pitfalls of Social Media and Nursing, May 8, 2018
ED Documentation: Are You Writing Enough?, April 2018
Event Management, Documentation and Disclosure: Trends, Dangers and Best Practices, March 2015
Understanding Advance Health Care Directives in Pennsylvania, March 2015
General Liability, Professional Liability and Other Interesting Litigation Issues, February 26, 2015
The Medical Licensing System in Pennsylvania, 2012
Expert Retention, Review, and Testimony: From Start to Finish, October 8, 2007
Defensive Documentation, co-presenter, April 2007
Medical Records Law in Pennsylvania as it Pertains to Litigation Issues, co-presenter, Lorman Education Services, August 2006
A Statutory Tour Through the Peer Review Protection Act, MCARE Act and the Patient Quality Improvement Act of 2005, co-presenter, October 2005
Avoiding Lawsuits and Facing the Ones You Cannot Avoid: Documentation, Event Review, Deposition and Trial Testimony, co-presenter, May 2005
An Overview of Pennsylvania Law as it Relates to HMA Medical Malpractice, co-presenter, January 2005
Best Practices for Hospital Investigation of Patient Care, October 2004
