Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

A New York hospital has paid $2.9 million to settle the medical malpractice case of a 6-year-old boy who was killed after he was struck in the head by an oxygen tank during an MRI. The boy was lying in an MRI chamber when the machine's magnet pulled in a metal tank that a hospital staffer had brought into the MRI's magnetic field. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here. This is one of a number of recent cases in which people have been severely injured or killed by metal objects that were left in an MRI room. Another report on this case can be found here. A report on these types of cases can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a large number of medical malpractice cases involving the failure of radiology facilities to follow their own written policies, procedures or guidelines. Cases such as there, in which a doctor, hospital or medical facility fails to follow its own standards, are inexcusable. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

An Indiana jury has issued a large verdict in a medical malpractice case last month, an unusual thing in a state where such judgments are rare. The jury awarded the woman $5 million after miscommunication about X-rays led her to lose a portion of her stomach. Due to caps on damages, the verdict will shrink to $1.25 million. Only about 1/3 or that state’s medical malpractice cases result in verdicts for plaintiffs
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Before they can sue, that state’s residents must bring their cases before a three-member medical review board, which can take a year or longer. Even if the board decides the case has merit, a trial can take years, and health-care providers are unlikely to settle because the state's cap on damages protects them from the risk of massive judgments. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

In medical malpractice cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland, we don’t have medical review boards. But we do have tort reform. Though there are many components, the main elements are the requirement of Certificates of Qualified Expert (also called a Certificate of Merit) and medical report before a case can make it to court, and a cap on pain, suffering and emotional distress. These two things have kept verdicts down in Maryland and, as a result, kept medical malpractice insurance premiums down for doctors and hospitals.

Navigating the Certificate and Report requirement can be very tricky, which is why Maryland medical malpractice plaintiffs need a very experienced lawyer to pursue their case. There has been a lot of litigation in Maryland over the last few years regarding Certificates and Reports in medical malpractice cases. This has resulted in many cases being thrown out. In fact, when I teach medical malpractice to law students every year, I now spend a couple of classes talking about Certificates and Reports, whereas several years ago I only spent about 20 minutes talking about it.

An Indiana jury has awarded $5 million to a woman in a medical malpractice case that was caused by a misdiagnosis. The woman, then 18, arrived at the emergency room with a ruptured diaphragm after playing softball. But through several miscommunications about what was shown by x-rays, she was misdiagnosed with a urinary tract infection and muscle strain, and then sent home.
Her condition deteriorated, so she saw doctors several times over more than two weeks. Eventually, emergency surgery revealed the correct diagnosis and resulted in the removal of a third of her stomach. Even today, she must limit food intake to avoid vomiting. She has had six surgeries and expects further complications. The woman can no longer work due to fatigue from the malpractice. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

I have successfully handled many medical malpractice cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland involving the failure to properly read, report and/or interpret a radiology film. These cases are tragic b/c the answer to the problem is right before the doctor’s eyes, but it doesn’t get properly reported.

In one case, a radiologist was found by a jury to be negligent for failing to properly read and interpret a prenatal sonogram. That case resulted in a verdict of $7.6 million verdict. In another case, a radiologis failed to report that a CAT (CT) scan of the abdomen showed appendicitis, resutling in the appendix rupturing, which caused the client's death.