Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

In early 2010, the family of a 17-year-old girl with a rare genetic disorder brought a medical malpractice suit against the Johns Hopkins Hospital alleging that the Johns Hopkins doctors and nurses provided inappropriate treatment to the disabled girl.

The Baltimore City jury that heard the medical malpractice suit found the staff at Johns Hopkins negligent in restraining the girl in a manner that caused extensive bruising. The girl, a long-time patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital, was extremely frail as a result of her condition and required special treatment. The girl’s father alleged that following an overnight stay at Johns Hopkins Hospital on March 12, 2007, he noticed "numerous bruises" on the girl’s body in addition to a "large lump on her forehead." Johns Hopkins Hospital staff provided no explanation for the bruises other than "spontaneous bruising" caused by her disorder. The girl’s father was not satisfied with this response, and brought the medical malpractice suit against Johns Hopkins Hospital. A copy of the article regarding the lawsuit can be found here. Ultimately, the jury found that Johns Hopkins Hospital was negligent and committed malpractice for the bruises awarded the girl $250,000.00.

A couple in Pennsylvania has filed two medical malpractice lawsuits following, what should have been, a routine organ transplant.

The couple alleges that the organ transplant went awry when, despite test results indicating the donor-spouse had hepatitis C, the hospital transplanted her kidney into her husband. Hepatitis C is an incurable infectious disease that attacks the liver causing a wide range of problems including damage, cirrhosis, cancer or failure. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here

The first lawsuit was filed against the hospital and various staff members. The suit, filed by the donee and the donor, alleges negligence. The couple states that the donor’s blood results were available months before the organ transplant, but that the hospital and physicians missed them. The organ transplant, which took place in April, was preceded by a blood test on January 26 which indicated that the donor had hepatitis C. The hospital never notified the donor of these results or disqualified her as an organ donor. Another test, which occurred weeks after the organ transplant, also indicated the presence of the infection. It was not until a month after the kidney transplant had taken place when the donor was notified of these results.

The second lawsuit claims that physicians provided the donor with the option of keeping her infection a secret from her long-time boyfriend, despite the transplant of the hepatitis C kidney. The suit also alleges that the physicians made several accusations against the donor, including her having cheating on her boyfriend and having used cocaine. The Pennsylvania couple has been together for 21 years and they have an 18-year-old son.
The hospital has stated that the transplant was a “medical mistake” and an investigation was completed; the results found that human error was to blame. This mistake comes after guidelines were recently issued by the CDC to reduce the risk of transmitting disease during organ transplants, specifically focused on donor screening.

A Maryland jury awarded the wife and two children of a 59-year-old man $2.5 million in damages following his untimely death from medical malpractice at Montgomery General Hospital in 2007. The lawsuit alleged that the doctor attending to the man at Montgomery General failed was negligent in failing to recognize and diagnose that he was suffering from "hemorrhagic shock" and treat the same. A copy of the article regarding the settlement can be found here.

The man’s death occurred two days after he fell and fractured his pelvis. The family alleged that the primary care physician, who was the sole defendant in the medical malpractice case, did not realize that the man was suffering from internal bleeding. The family believes that had the doctor treated this condition when he first examined him, he could have saved the man’s life. Instead, the man ultimately died from multiple organ failure due to the internal bleeding.
While the primary care physician argued that the man died as a result of a side effect to medication that restricted his intake of oxygen, this theory was discredited because no mention was made of any such complication on the death certificate.

Further, the family’s attorney was able to present numerous signs that the doctor should have alerted the doctor to the problem. For example, the man had both low blood pressure and a rapid heartbeat. Another example is that, within a 24-hour period, the man had not produced urine. Each of these circumstances, in addition to others, were clues that the patient was experiencing blood loss.

The $2.5 million in damages consisted of $1 million each to the man’s estate and his wife, and $250,000 was awarded to each of Dixon's children.

Peninsula Regional Medical Center, located in Salisbury, Maryland is the latest Maryland hospital involved in medical malpractice suits arising from unnecessary stent procedures.

Last month, cardiologist John R. McLean, M.D. was convicted of health care fraud offenses after implanting cardiac stents in more than 100 patients who did not need them. McLean was found to have performed unnecessary tests and made false entries in medical records when he submitted insurance claims for the stent procedures.

Despite its attempt last year to be dismissed from the case involving McLean, which was denied by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Peninsula Regional Medical Center agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle the case in early August. The allegations set forth in the suits against Peninsula Regional Medical Center were that it failed to act to prevent the unnecessary procedures even though it were aware of McLean’s behavior. There were fifty-two parties named as plaintiffs. Additionally, under the settlement, the hospital must also repay the money it received from federal health benefit programs while the unnecessary medical procedures amounting to fraud were going on.

Baltimore Washington Medical Center, located in Anne Arundel County Maryland, was recently fined by the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) a result of medical malpractice. The settlement agreement reached between the MDE and Baltimore Washington Medical Center stemmed from an error in which the hospital administered an improper dose of radiation. The MDE became involved because radiation doses are supposed to be limited to levels as low as reasonably achievable, pursuant to the Maryland Radiation Act. A copy the article can be found here. .

As a result of the self-reporting system, the hospital notified officials, as well as the patient, about the error in which the patient was exposed to radiation inconsistent with the treatment plan. While it’s likely that the medical mistake will not result in any negative effect on the patient, radiation doses that are too high can kill cells while those that are too low can damage or alter the DNA within the cells.

As a result of this mistake, and in addition to the $14,000 fine, hospital officials will have a radiological health official present at each of their next four radiation safety meetings to make sure the hospital is in compliance and to provide guidance if necessary.

In a Maryland medical malpractice case in which the plaintiff seeks punitive damages against a doctor for conducting an unnecessary procedure, is the employer hospital vicariously liable for punitive damages?

In general, Maryland has uniformly applied a broad rule for punitive damages and held an employer vicariously liable for punitive damages for its employee’s tortious acts. Embrey v. Holly, 293 Md. 128, 137-38, 442 A.2d 966, 971 (1982). The nature of punitive damages is such that a punitive damage award may be apportioned between multiple wrongdoers depending upon the degree of culpability and the pecuniary status of each. Embrey, 293 Md. at 141, 442 A.2d at 973. In Embrey, which was a defamation case, the Court held that it was entirely proper to permit a jury to apportion punitive damages among multiple defendants, the speaker of the defamatory language and his employer radio station. Id. at 143, 442 A.2d at 974.

Continue reading "Punitive Damages and Vicarious Liability in a Maryland Medical Malpractice Case" »

In 2002, ten years after being born with among other things, cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and developmental delay, a newborn, through her guardian, filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against University of Maryland Medical System’s University of Maryland hospital. The newborn, through her guardian, alleged that hospital was negligent because it made the mother wait before conducting an emergency c-section, which resulted in severe injury to newborn. A jury in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City initially entered a verdict in favor of hospital. On appeal, the Maryland Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case to the Circuit Court. A copy the judicial opinion regarding the case can be found here.

The underlying issue in this medical malpractice case was a factual dispute regarding culpability on the part of the University of Maryland Hospital for the newborn’s injuries. The mother stated that after arriving at the University of Maryland hospital, she waited for approximately five hours, without any treatment, before the c-section was performed. The University of Maryland hospital, on the other hand, denied that it was negligent and stated that the woman did not arrive at the hospital until minutes before the emergency c-section was performed.

The c-section only took three minutes to perform but when the newborn was delivered, she was without a heartbeat, she was having difficulty breathing, and she had low Apgar scores. Apparently, a placental abruption had caused the need for the emergency c-section, and the newborn’s disabilities. The doctors at the University of Maryland hospital inserted a breathing tube and placed the child on a ventilation machine, after which she was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

The Circuit Court, in ruling on various evidentiary issues, had excluded hospital medical records that corroborated the mother’s version of events. The Court of Appeals ultimately reversed the decision of the Circuit Court and remanded it for further proceedings because it believed the medical records had been improperly excluded.

I have handled many cases where the entire case turns on a just a few medical records. These cases can be won or lost on the medical records, which is why it is important in a medical malpractice case to use an experienced medical malpractice attorney who is very familiar with what should be in medical records and what should not be in medical records.

Earlier this month the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Office of Health Care Quality published a report regarding medical malpractice in Maryland hospitals. The report is a review of the safety and care provided to patients in Maryland hospitals. The report compiles information collected by the OHCQ in 2010 relating to serious adverse events that affected patients or their families. A copy of the report can be found here.

The adverse events that hospitals are required to report include a rather long list of mistakes that are possible because of hospital error, medical malpractice (negligence), or inattention. Patient falls are the most frequently reported event. In 2010, there were 88 reported cases resulting in serious disability or death. Of these 88 reported cases, 10 resulted in loss of limb or function of limb, 52 required surgical interventions, 20 required medical intervention and 6 resulted in death of the patient.

Hospital-acquired pressure sores / ulcers, which are associated with high morbidity (medical complications) and mortality (death) once they reach Stage 3 and 4, were reported 59 times in 2010 making it the second most frequently reported event. However, none of the reported cases in 2010 resulted in death.

The third most frequently reported event was delay in providing needed treatment leading to a patient suffering death or serious disability. There were 20 of these reported in 2010. Delays in treatment that result in an adverse event often cause hospital protocols to be revised and changes in hospital policies and procedures to take place. In 2010, there were 17 cases where a delay in treatment resulted in death.

Adverse events related to the failure of doctors to maintain a patient’s airway or to supply an adequate level of oxygenation increased in 2010. A basic medical intervention is a procedure to keep a patient’s airway open. However, there were still 9 reported “airway misadventures” in 2010; 8 were fatal and the other left the patient in a persistent vegetative state.

Delays in treatment and failure to maintain a patient’s airway are the medical errors that most frequently fatal. Over the past six years, 83 of 102 patients whose medical treatment was delayed died, and 51 of the 58 patients whose airway was not maintained.

Surprisingly, adverse events related to foreign bodies being retained within a patient following surgical procedures continue to occur on a regular basis. In 2010, there were 15 reports which is a 250% increase over any previous year. However, the number of reports of wrong patient surgeries, wrong side surgeries, and wrong surgical procedures is low; there were only 4 reported cases in 2010. When these errors are made, the root cause is often the consent or pre-operative forms prepared in doctor’s offices.

There were only 9 reported cases of physician errors resulting in the wrong medication being administered to a patient that resulted in death or serious disability. This includes patients who have adverse drug reactions.

Misdiagnosis was only responsible for 2 reported cases of death or serious disability, whereas failure to act accounted for 3 cases.

We handle cases like these all of the time in my practice. It’s nice to see a government agency reporting on these things. Hopefully, this report will encourage hospital administrators and doctors to take action to try and prevent these things in the future.

The surviving family of a 37 year old Alabama man has won a $3 million jury verdict from a local hospital. The man died a few days after surgery for a duodenal ulcer. The family claimed that the man bled to death after negligent surgery, and negligent follow-up care after discharge. Specifically, the family alleged that the man’s ulcer, a perforation in the first section of the small intestine, was large and not treatable by the standard surgical procedures. The family also alleged that the man was sent home after surgery with a very low blood count and was not adequately examined by his doctor before being discharged. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.

I have handled many negligent surgery cases. The key to success in such cases is obtaining all of the relevant medical records, reviewing them carefully, getting a good expert witness and backing the case up with medical literature where appropriate. Also important in such a case is reviewing the medical records to make sure the post-operative care is within the standard of care and not negligent. Usually, this is done by checking the patient’s vital signs (heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure and temperature), and drainage.

I once handled a case a somewhat similar case of a woman who came into a hospital emergency room with a bleeding ulcer and bleed to death (called exsanguination) within hours. She kept bleeding in the hospital as evidenced by her blood test results which indicated that she was experiencing severe internal bleeding (her hematocrit level kept dropping), but the doctors failed to stop the bleeding. Eventually, her blood pressure crashed and they gave her many units of blood, but by then it was too late to do surgery and she died. That should not happen where there is enough time to operate and stop the bleeding.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving negligent surgery, negligent emergency room or other hospital care and negligent discharge from a hospital. They are extremely complicated and require expertise that most general personal injury attorneys do not have. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

Nine Maryland hospitals face financial penalties for having far too many patients contracting preventable medical conditions such as infections, pneumonia and bed sores. Those hospitals commtting medical malpractice are Prince George's Hospital Center, Doctors Community Hospital, Laurel Regional Hospital, Union Hospital in Cecil County, Montgomery General Hospital, Civista Medical Center in Southern Maryland, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Washington Adventist Hospital and University of Maryland Medical Center. The penalties were handed down by the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, which sets rates that hospitals can charge. The evaluation and penalties are designed to improve patient safety and lower health care costs by linking hospital performance with their payments. A copy of an article regarding the penalties can be found here.

This is an important study because it shows that there is significant malpractice at many of Maryland's hosptials. It also shows that even some of the best hospitals in the state, such as the University of Maryland Medical Center, still have far to go to improve quality of care and reduce the incidence of medical malpractice and wrongful death. In fact, it is interesting to note that, at the same time that this study came out, members of Congress were trying to further limit the rights of victims of medical malpractice by trying to limit damages to $25,000.

An Ohio jury has awarded $1.5 million dollars to a in a medical malpractice case against two doctors. The jury found that a doctor committed malpractice during a bone marrow biopsy in which a nerve was nicked and an artery was damaged. Apparently, the problem went undiscovered for five days and doctors had to remove two large hematomas from the hip and pelvis. The other doctor was called two days after the procedure but declined to examine the patient. The negligence caused the man to lose he use of his right leg below the knee, and resulted in chronic pain. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving vascular injuries and nerve injuries. These can be difficult cases because the defense is that the procedure is done relatively blindly and injury to a blood vessels and nerves and this can happen, but there are procedures to minimize the risk of such injuries and they clearly were not followed in this case. Moreover, the failure of the subsequent treating doctor to see the patient was clear malpractice.

A Connecticut medical malpractice case has been settled for $5.25 million in favor of a woman whose left leg had to be amputated as a result of complications from spinal surgery performed at a local hospital. The lawsuit alleged that a doctor performed an elective "anterior transabdominal approach to the lumbosacral spine," and then her doctor and the hospital staff failed to properly take care of her in the intensive care unit, causing the loss of the leg. While in the ICU, the woman suffered intra-abdominal hemorrhaging, post-operative bleeding, abdominal wounds, and other severe complications that the hospital staff did not appropriately diagnose or treat, resulting in a gangrenous lower leg that resulted in an above-the-knee amputation. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving failed back surgery. Usually, they are caused by improper technique during the surgery, but sometimes it is the post-operative monitoring that is deficient. During the post-operative period, the surgeon and the nurses at the hospital must be alert for changes in the patient’s condition that require further testing and procedures. Usually, simply monitoring the patient’s oxygenation rate, pulse, breathing, responsiveness and blood work is sufficient. These functions usually tell how well a patient is doing. Any abnormalities must be promptly investigated. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

A Connecticut medical malpractice case has been settled for $5.25 million in favor of a woman whose left leg had to be amputated as a result of complications from spinal surgery performed at a local hospital. The lawsuit alleged that a doctor performed an elective "anterior transabdominal approach to the lumbosacral spine," and then her doctor and the hospital staff failed to properly take care of her in the intensive care unit, causing the loss of the leg. While in the ICU, the woman suffered intra-abdominal hemorrhaging, post-operative bleeding, abdominal wounds, and other severe complications that the hospital staff did not appropriately diagnose or treat, resulting in a gangrenous lower leg that resulted in an above-the-knee amputation. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving failed back surgery. Usually, they are caused by improper technique during the surgery, but sometimes it is the post-operative monitoring that is deficient. During the post-operative period, the surgeon and the nurses at the hospital must be alert for changes in the patient’s condition that require further testing and procedures. Usually, simply monitoring the patient’s oxygenation rate, pulse, breathing, responsiveness and blood work is sufficient. These functions usually tell how well a patient is doing. Any abnormalities must be promptly investigated. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

The New York Times has just published a very interesting article on Long-term acute care hospitals and the medical malpractice / substandard care that goes on in many of them. According to the Times, these hospitals, have been springing up across the country since the 1980s, and specialize in the long-term care of seriously ill patients. Most of these hospitals are for-profit, which means that there is a strong incentive to provide minimal care. Once long term acute care hospital chain drew increased scrutiny, Select Medical Corporation, which reportedly had a rate about four times that of regular hospitals for serious violations of Medicare rules. According to the Times, Medicare inspection reports of many of these hospitals showed preventable patient injuries and deaths and inadequate staff numbers with high turnover. A copy of the article can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving care of the chronically ill. These patients are at risk for severe bed sores, major infections, falls and death. These people usually are almost totally dependent on others for their care. That makes it even more outrageous when they are not properly care for due to the profit motive.

A Florida jury has awarded the family of a 9-year-old boy $11.1 million in a medical malpractice case arising out of negligent medical care at a local hospital. The family claimed that the child was not properly treated in the emergency room. The child, then 3 months old, had been sick for days with vomiting and diarrhea, so he was taken to the hospital. After a few hours, he was discharged, however, the hospital had failed to check the child for dehydration. By the next morning he could barely breathe, and had to be rushed back to the hospital. By that time, he suffered from an irreversible brain injury. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving sick children. I also have handled several dehydration cases. When people get sick, especially when they vomit or have diarrhea, they can become dehydrated quickly, which creates a serious imbalance in their fluid and electrolyte levels. When these levels become out of sync, they can cause severe sickness, organ damage and even death. In these cases, it is critical for the doctor or hospital to perform a a complete blood count and a simple metabolic panel. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

A Pittsburgh jury has awarded $2.3 million to a woman in a medical malpractice case against a hospital which arose from a complete abdominal hysterectomy she underwent there. The woman went to the hospital to deliver a child and was improperly discharged with a high white blood count that gave her a serious infection requiring a hysterectomy one week later. The woman’s doctor claimed that he never received notice of the abnormal blood work, but the hospital claimed he had. While the blood work results were i the chart, no one appears to have paid attention to them before the woman was discharged. The verdict was for the woman’s pain and suffering.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving abnormal blood work that was never communicated to the right person or acted upon properly. In one case, a woman who was being transferred from a hospital had a severely low electrolyte level but no one acted on it before she was transferred and she died. In another case, a child had a very low white blood count with what is called a left shift, indicating a severe infection. But the hospital sent him home where he went into arrest and died. Cases like these, where abnormal lab reports are in the medical records but no one responds, are inexcusable cases of medical malpractice. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

A New York man has been awarded $19.2 million in a medical negligence case against a hospital in New York City. The man was admitted to the hospitalcomplaining of severe back pain. The hospital’s staff negligently failed to diagnose a spinal abscess, which is an infection on the spinal cord, which quickly led to his permanent paralysis. Apparently, the hospital did not conduct an MRI or CAT scan until two weeks after thje man was admitted, when the damage had already been done. A neurosurgeon tried to reverse some of that damage, but it was too late. The man has been paralyzed from his chest down ever since.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I frequently handle medical malpractice cases in Baltimore, Maryland and other places involving paralysis. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here .

In a case like this, it is important to prove violations of the standard of care and that the violation caused the person’s paralysis. In such cases, we frequently use neurosurgery experts, neuroradiology experts, infectious disease experts, etc. One of the most frequent reasons for people to sue in such a situation is to obtain compensation that allows them to obtain better medical care than they or their health insurer otherwise would provide, and to gain independence. That is exactly what happened in this case. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

Los Angeles County has finally acknowledged for the first time in a medical malpractice case that a woman who died shortly after writhing in pain for nearly an hour on the waiting room floor of a county hospital been saved if she had been properly treated. The woman was captured on security videotape as a janitor mopped around her and a triage nurse dismissed her complaints early one morning in May 2007. The woman’s death helped precipitate the closure of the hospital's emergency room and inpatient care after federal regulators determined that staffers had failed to deliver a minimum standard of care.

The woman’s boyfriend, who had accompanied her to the emergency room and called 911 from a nearby pay phone after no one would help, recently was offered a $250,000 settlement by county supervisors. A separate lawsuit against the county filed by her adult children could potentially prove far more costly and is considered more likely to go to trial. The children have asked for $1 million for each minute she was denied treatment -- $45 million in all.

The indifference shown to the woman’s suffering made national news and outraged county supervisors and national health authorities as well as area residents. A federal report issued last year concluded that six staff members, including a nurse and two nursing assistants, saw or walked past the woman but did nothing. She died from a perforated bowel shortly after she was arrested on an outstanding warrant instead of being treated.

The potential county payouts in the case would mark the latest in a long history of settlements and judgments against the now-shuttered hospital for poor patient care. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.

I have been involved in a number of medical malpractice / medical negligence / medical error cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland involving care that was so below the standard of care that the state medical board or nursing board investigated and filed charges. In one case, a nurse was even prosecuted criminally for failing to render proper medical care, causing the death of the woman. It’s always helpful when the state gets involved to investigate. Many times, the state’s report can be a helpful tool to prove what happened before the lawsuit is ever filed.

A South Carolina hospital and doctor have agreed to pay more than $1.2 million to settle a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died after she failed to receive a physician-ordered blood test. Apparently, the woman had surgery and was later discharged. Two days after the discharge, she went to the emergency room of the defendant hospital complaining of numbness in her left leg. The medical negligence lawsuit claimed that a doctor ordered a blood test that was not done. The woman subsequently went into a coma and died. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice and wrongful death cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland involving a failure to follow-through with a doctor’s orders. One of the cases I handled involved a failure to timely give blood that was ordered by a doctor. As a result, the patient bled out and died. These cases are always tragic because the problem was recognized by the doctor, but the staff just did not follow the order.

A California jury has awarded $8.5 million to the widow of a man who died on the day a surgeon was going to discharge him from the hospital. Because of limits on medical malpractice cases, the woman probably will receive only $1.6 million of that amount.

The 49-year-old man broke six ribs in a motorcycle accident in 2002. At the trial, his wife’s attorneys argued that a doctor should have more closely monitored him after x-rays showed he had one gallon of liquid backed up in his stomach four hours before he died, and he had previously been resuscitated. The man died after choking on his own vomit.

I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice / medical negligence / medical error cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland involving premature hospital discharge / improper discharge from a hospital. These cases have ranged from failure to properly diagnose and treat infections / sepsis, failure to diagnose and treat pulmonary embolisms, failure to properly diagnose and treat surgical complications, failure to diagnose and treat heart attacks, failure to diagnose and properly treat brain injuries, etc. Sometimes these cases arise soon before discharge or right after. These cases are always tragic because the patient and family trust the doctor and hospital to do the right thing and, as a result, they are usually given a false sense of security in the planning of the discharge or the actual discharge itself. Many times, the patient and/or family’s concerns are dismissed and they are reassured that everything will be fine and the patient will get better. A death within days of a planned or actual discharge should always be carefully investigated.

A Pittsburgh jury has found that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at Shadyside was negligent in a patient's death and awarded $2.5 million for wrongful death. The case alleged that a young man died after a brain abscess was not treated in time by the staff at the hospital. The jury actually issued a statement saying, "It is our belief that UPMC Shadyside's policies, culture, and lack of competent supervision resulted in the death of Michael Rettger." The young man, who was an accountant, was in West Virginia in November 2003 to perform an audit of another hospital when he began vomiting and reporting a headache. The man then was admitted to that hospital, and a CT scan and MRI revealed a large, swelling mass in his brain. The man was transferred to UPMC Shadyside in order to be closer to home. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice / medical negligence / medical error cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland, and in Washington, D.C., involving the failure of hospitals to timely diagnose and treat patients with brain and other conditions. Of course, one has to obtain the medical records and retain proper experts in these cases, such as neurosurgeons and radiologists, to determine what really happened. But what is also critical in these type of cases is to obtain the hospital’s written standards to determine how the hospital expected its people to act, and to then take the depositions of the people most involved with the care and treatment of the patient, to understand what they did and whether they complied with hospital policies.

A Florida jury has awarded $12 million for the death of a premature baby caused by medical malpractice. The parents contended in their suit that the hospital negligently accepted a transfer of the baby from another hospital, but did not have the appropriate specialists on its staff to deal with their baby’s infection. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

In Maryland and the District of Columbia, most hospitals can be classified as academic medical centers (like the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the University of Maryland Medical Center, George Washington University Medical Center or Georgetown University Hospital, etc.) or community hospitals (like Sinai Hospital, Harbor Hospital, Shady Grove Adventist, etc.). Maryland and District of Columbia hospitals also are labeled according to what type of trauma center they are.

The concept of a trauma center was developed at the University of Maryland Medical Center in the 1960s and 1970s by heart surgeon and shock researcher R Adams Cowley, who founded what became the Shock Trauma Center. Trauma centers in the United States are ranked by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), from level I (comprehensive service) to level III (limited-care). The different levels refer to the type of resources available in a trauma center and the number of patients admitted yearly.

A level I trauma center provides the highest level of surgical care to trauma patients. It has a full range of specialists and equipment available 24 hours a day and admits a minimum required annual volume of severely injured patients. A level I trauma center is required to have a certain number of surgeons and anesthesiologists on duty 24 hours a day at the hospital, an education program, preventive and outreach programs. Other required elements include 24-hour in-house coverage by general surgeons and prompt availability of care in varying specialties such as orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and critical care, which are needed to adequately respond and care for various forms of trauma that a patient may suffer. Additionally, a Level I center has a program of research, is a leader in trauma education and injury prevention, and is a referral resource for communities in nearby regions.

A level II trauma center works in collaboration with a Level I center. It provides comprehensive trauma care and supplements the clinical expertise of a level I institution. It provides 24-hour availability of all essential specialties, personnel, and equipment. Minimum volume requirements may depend on local conditions. These institutions are not required to have an ongoing program of research or a surgical residency program.

A level III trauma center does not have the full availability of specialists, but does have resources for emergency resuscitation, surgery, and intensive care of most trauma patients. A level III center has transfer agreements with level I or level II trauma centers that provide back-up resources for the care of exceptionally severe injuries.

Obviously, a Maryland or District of Columbia hospital can be liable for medical malpractice / medical negligence for failing to have the required specialist on the premises, or readily available as required by the ACS, if it causes an injury or damage.