Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

The Rhode Island Health Department has fined a Rhode Island Hospital $150,000, after finding that a surgical team committed medical malpractice and violated patient safety policies when it operated on the wrong finger of a patient. According to the Health Department, the surgical team failed to properly mark the fingers and failed to follow the rules for “time out.” A time out is a pause before surgery to verify the patient, procedure and operative site. The finger incident was the fifth wrong-site surgery at the hospital since January 2007.
The Health Department reprimanded the hospital, required observation of every surgery for one year, required full adoption of a statewide surgical protocol and required installation of video and audio recording in every operating room. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have only handled one case of wrong site surgery. I believe that most of the medical malpractice attorneys in Baltimore have not handled any such cases, as these cases are extremely rare. I can understand one case happening in a hospital over the course of several years, but 5 cases in the same hospital in 2 years. That place should be shut down. There is no defense to operating on the wrong surgical site over and over. It is medical malpractice, plain and simple

A Massachusetts jury has found that two doctors at Children’s Hospital Boston were guilty of medical malpractice that caused the death of a 3-year-old boy, and awarded the parents $15 million. The boy died a year and a half after he underwent surgery for a birth defect. The child was born with a severe congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot, a complicated but treatable birth defect that affects the flow of blood through the heart. He underwent eight procedures, 7 of which were cardiac catheterizations, before coming to Children’s for another catheterization procedure to widen his arteries. After the Boston procedure, the child suffered a seizure. A CAT scan revealed that that contrast dye, which is used during the procedure to better see the patient’s anatomy, had leaked into his brain. Later, an MRI revealed that a piece of metal had lodged in the boy’s brain, probably from a medical instrument. When the child left the hospital, he was unable to walk or speak. The jury awarded damages of $5 million for the child’s pain and suffering, $5 million for the parents’ loss of their child, and $5 million for the child’s wrongful death. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

According to the lawyers involved in the case, the parties reached a “high-low” settlement prior to the jury’s verdict. Such settlements can be structured in many different ways, but usually it means that the plaintiff will get a certain amount of money guaranteed (the low) in exchange for agreeing that no matter how high the verdict is the defendants will not have to pay more than a particular amount (the high). Usually, the plaintiff gets the low even if he/she loses the case. But sometimes the settlement agreements are structured so that the defendant only pays the money if the plaintiff wins the case. If the verdict is between the high and low, then the plaintiff gets that amount. These agreements can be beneficial to both sides to protect each side from their worst case scenario – in other words, it protects the plaintiff from losing the case completely and it protects the defendant(s) from a large verdict.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving sick children, and have done a number of high-low settlements. 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.

There has been a lot of publicity lately about a doctor at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, Maryland, that supposedly implanted cardiac stents that may not have been necessary. The publicity started after St. Joseph Medical Center sent out letters to 369 former patients stating that a review of surgeries by Dr. Mark Midei revealed that Dr. Midei may have told these people that they had severe coronary artery blockages that they actually didn’t have, and then recommend and performed stent surgery on these people when it was not necessary. Usually, such stents are only placed in people who have blockages of 70% or more. A copy of the article regarding this issue can be found here.

In the article, a women is quoted who was told that she had a 90% blockage and underwent stent surgery as a result, but after getting a letter discovered that she only had a 10% blockage and didn’t need the surgery. Not only did she undergo unnecessary surgery, but she incorrectly believed she had severe cardiac disease and now has to take blood thinners for life due to the stent.

There are clearly a lot of unanswered questions here. Who was reading the heart scans and incorrectly interpreting / reporting on them, why did Dr. Midei not pick up on this, why did St. Joseph Medical Center not pick up on this earlier, were there financial incentives for any of these parties that gave them incentive to do this, etc.

Another problem will be fairly compensating for such a large number of claimants. Most doctors in Maryland only carry $1 million in medical malpractice insurance, though some have $2 or $3 million. His employer, a professional group of doctors, may have some more malpractice insurance or assets, but probably not much more than the doctor. The real deep pocket here is St. Joseph. If there is any liability on St. Joe’s behalf, then the insurance and assets available to satisfy malpractice judgments clearly is a lot more than what the doctor and his group have.

Recently, a lot of attorneys have been advertising for such cases the newspaper and on television. These attorneys will be collecting as many cases as they can. An attorney who has a large number of cases cannot possibly try those cases in any reasonable time period. As such, in my experience, people are better served by attorneys pursuing a limited number of cases.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I only take about a dozen large med mal cases a year. I think it better serves my clients.

One common type of malpractice concerns the failure of a clinician or radiologist to properly diagnose a patient's musculoskeletal tumor based on the relevant clinical and radiological features. One sub-type of these musculoskeletal tumors is a cartilage tumor, a tumor that grows within a human bone.

Musculoskeletal tumors are benign or malignant lesions that form in human bone and the connective tissues. Cartilage tumors are musculoskeletal tumors that produce cartilage inside the host bone. There are only two types of cartilage tumors: enchondroma (benign) and chondrosarcoma (malignant). Cartilage tumors range in severity from benign enchondroma to low-grade malignant chondrosarcoma to high grade chondrosarcoma. Chondrosarcoma is the second most common primary malignant bone tumor, accounting for 25-30% of all primary bony malignancies.

Several well-established clinical guideposts and principles exist regarding location, size, presence and duration of pain, and age of the patient, that assist physicians in distinguishing a benign enchondroma from a low-grade malignant chondrosarcoma. Clinically, benign enchondromas most commonly involve the tubular bones of the hands and feet. When present in long bones, such as the femur, enchondromas most often are located in the distal femur (furthest from the hip). Enchondromas are usually asymptomatic; i.e., with no associated pain, and therefore, the vast majority are discovered incidentally on radiographs or bone scans done for other reasons. The majority of enchondromas are approximately 3 cm in maximum dimension. Benign tumors larger than 5 cm in maximum dimension are extremely rare. In contrast, chondrosarcomas are most commonly located in the proximal femur (closest to the hip) and pelvis. Like other malignant tumors, the single most common clinical symptom for chondrosarcoma is the presentation with pain that is directly referable to the bone in which the tumor is growing. Published literature indicates that the pain is typically present for 1-2 years prior to diagnosis and is most often described by patients as an insidious or achy pain that is initially constant in nature, but that ultimately progresses in severity. Generally, patients with chondrosarcoma are over the age of 40, while those with benign enchondroma are typically under the age of 40.

Radiographs are crucial in distinguishing between benign enchondroma and low-grade chondrosarcoma. Perhaps the single most important radiographic feature for a cartilage tumor is whether the tumor is confined to the inside of the bone or has grown outside of it. The radiologic hallmark of a chondrosarcoma is evidence of the tumor breaking through the cortex (outer shell) of the bone and extending into the soft tissues surrounding the bone. This is often referred to as “cortical extension” leading to a “soft tissue mass.” Importantly, benign enchondromas simply do not break through the bone’s cortex, but rather, remain well circumscribed within the bone. The best radiologic modality for evaluating whether cortical breakthrough/extension has occurred is an MRI. A second common radiographic feature of chondrosarcoma that can be visualized best on an MRI is when the tumor appears heterogenous in signal intensity (a number of different structural variations) as opposed to homogenous (multiple identical structures), a feature that is more consistent with a benign enchondroma.

The CT scan is the next best modality used to distinguish between an enchondroma and chondrosarcoma. In contrast to the MRI, which is most useful at detecting the presence of a soft tissue mass, CT scans are particularly useful at evaluating the integrity of the bone’s cortex. Because enchondromas never break through the bone’s cortex, a CT image of an enchondroma is expected to have an intact rind of cortical bone surrounding it. To the extent that cortical irregularity or cortical erosion is observed, this is considered strong evidence of malignancy/chondrosarcoma. Lastly, in some instances, cartilage tumors can be observed on plain x-rays. To the extent that a malignant tumor has broken through the bone, clinicians can, in some instances, observe areas of calcification outside the bone in the area of cortical breakthrough.

At STSW, our attorneys have successfully handled cases involving a physician's failure to properly diagnose a patient with a malignant cartilage tumor, e.g. a chondrosarcoma. If you or a loved one believe that you have been the victim of a missed or untimely diagnosis of a malignant musculoskeletal or soft tissue tumor of any kind, call the lawyers at STSW for a free consultation at 410-385-2225.

A widower has won an $8.5 million medical malpractice verdict against an Indiana hospital over his wife's death. The woman, who had a dangerous bowel obstruction, died after the hospital failed to timely get an x-ray to doctors that showed her condition. During the trial, the man’s lawyers presented evidence demonstrating that the hospital failed to promptly get an x-ray to doctors that revealed the bowel obstruction, which is a life-threatening medical condition. The Plaintiff alleged that the hospital's actions led to a one day delay in reading the film and postponed emergency surgery that would have cleared the obstruction and saved the woman’s life. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled several bowel cases arising from negligence. Some have been mesenteric ischemia malpractice cases and others have been bowel obstruction malpractice cases. Time is of the essence in treating such a condition, and timely communication among the health care providers is essential. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

In this case, an interesting point is that the verdict will be reduced from $8.5 million to about $1.25 million due to a cap on damages in Indiana. Maryland also has a cap on damages. In Maryland, the current law, which can be found in section 3-2A-09 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland, which states:

(a) This section applies to an award under § 3-2A-05 of this subtitle or a verdict under § 3-2A-06 of this subtitle for a cause of action arising on or after January 1, 2005.

(b)(1)(i) Except as provided in paragraph (2)(ii) of this subsection, an award or verdict under this subtitle for noneconomic damages for a cause of action arising between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2008, inclusive, may not exceed $650,000.

(ii) The limitation on noneconomic damages provided under subparagraph (i) of this paragraph shall increase by $15,000 on January 1 of each year beginning January 1, 2009. The increased amount shall apply to causes of action arising between January 1 and December 31 of that year, inclusive.

(2)(i) Except as provided in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, the limitation under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall apply in the aggregate to all claims for personal injury and wrongful death arising from the same medical injury, regardless of the number of claims, claimants, plaintiffs, beneficiaries, or defendants.

(ii) If there is a wrongful death action in which there are two or more claimants or beneficiaries, whether or not there is a personal injury action arising from the same medical injury, the total amount awarded for noneconomic damages for all actions may not exceed 125% of the limitation established under paragraph (1) of this subsection, regardless of the number of claims, claimants, plaintiffs, beneficiaries, or defendants.

Currently, there is a challenge to the cap on damages in wrongful death cases.

A jury has awarded $1 million to a New Mexico man who alleged a surgeon committed medical malpractice in repairing a colon perforation after a colonoscopy. The patient suffered a tiny bowel perforation during a colonoscopy. The surgeon then operated in order to repair the hole, but the surgeon did not see any hole and therefore failed to repair it. Because the surgeon didn’t see the perforation, he assumed it had sealed itself, but the surgeon failed to use procedures he could have used – such a dye test - to locate the perforation. As a result, the man’s bowels continue to leak feces into his man’s abdomen for eleven days causing massive infection. The infection resulted in severe scarring in his abdomen, which has required thirteen operations.

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

In a case like this, it is important to know that causing a perforation during a colonoscopy usually is not negligence. But failing to timely recognize the perforation and quickly fix it can cause catastrophic injuries due to infection and post-recovery complications, just like in this case. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

A Frederick County jury has awarded almost $1.37 million to a woman who suffers severe and chronic leg pain and must take a blood thinner each day, after a diagnostic test left her with vascular injuries. The jury found that a doctor negligently performed a laparoscopy to determine the cause of the woman’s ovarian or abdominal soreness, and that he lacerated blood vessels. The lacerations led to emergency surgery which stopped the bleeding, but the incident left her with a deep vein thrombosis, or blood clot, in her leg and the possibility of more clots. The plaintiff alleged that the doctor violated the standard of care by performing the procedure without proper visualization, using excessive force and failing to take proper precautions to avoid cutting blood vessels.

The pain and suffering portion of the verdict, which included more than $315,000 for loss of consortium, accounted for about $1.2 million of the jury’s award. That figure will be reduced by about 45 percent to $650,000, the cap that was in place when the claim arose. The jury also awarded $156,915.01 in economic damages, of which $83,004.16 is for future medical expenses, $65,186.77 is for prior medical costs and $8,724.08 is for lost wages. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

I successfully handled many medical malpractice cases just like this in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland. Many of these cases have been surgical cases just like this, where the allegation is that the doctor did not perform surgery properly.

What makes this case especially interesting is that the verdict is in Frederick County. That county is generally known among Maryland medical malpractice lawyers as being a very difficult place to win a verdict for a plaintiff. Even when a plaintiff does win, it is usually a low verdict. Recently, there have been several large verdicts in medical malpractice cases in Frederick. As one of my colleagues recently said, the glass ceiling has been broken in medical malpractice cases in Frederick.

Personally, I believe no Maryland county is immune from a large malpractice award as long as the plaintiff is a quality person, the malpractice is severe and the damages are severe.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I am frequently asked to comment on malpractice cases from around the county. Recently, a Rhode Island jury awarded a former truck driver $4 million in an orthopedic negligence case. The man filed suit in 2002 alleging that the doctor negligently performed surgery on his hand by slicing a nerve. This allegedly caused his hand to hurt, change color and temperature, and sweat. He eventually was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome, a chronic neurological disorder that causes severe pain. His hand since has become claw-like, and continues to have pain. As a result, he has become addicted to pain medication and relies on drugs to fall asleep each night. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.

This was a major verdict in a difficult case. While it would have been easy to show the jury the disfigured hand, juries sometimes have difficulty understanding Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, which is a chronic pain syndrome. The defense usually claims the person is exaggerating, and juries have difficulty grasping that a limb that may look ok is causing severe pain. Brining is experts to explain RSD to the jury is key.

I have handled a large number of medical malpractice cases in Baltimore, Maryland and other places involving surgical mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are discovered right after surgery and others times it take months or years to discover. Usually, the client is told that the surgery will solve their problem, but the surgery ends up making it worse. Some of the cases I have handled have involved medical malpractice due to the failure to properly perform brain surgery, failure to properly perform back or spinal surgery, failure to properly perform gallbladder surgery, failure to properly perform lung surgery, failure to properly perform bariatric surgery (also known as stomach stapling), etc. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here .

A Los Angeles County woman may receive more than $1.6 million to settle a malpractice lawsuit she brought against the county after being paralyzed during back surgery at a Los Angeles medical center. The L.A. county Claims Board is prepared to discuss the proposed medical malpractice settlement with legal counsel behind closed doors. If they give their go-ahead, the matter will then go before the county Board of Supervisors for final approval.

The lawsuit was brought by a woman who had two vertebrae fractured in a car accident in 2005. During surgery at the hospital, the woman, who was 20 years old at the time, was paralyzed. In her lawsuit, the woman claimed that no one explained the risks of the procedure to her and that the hospital's staff failed to provide her with the necessary care. Although the medical center took the position that she received proper care, the settlement was proposed to avoid a potentially risky jury trial.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the county would pay $1.5 million to the woman and assume medical bills totaling $112,999. The county has already paid more than $217,000 in attorney fees in the case. A copy of an 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 involving a failure to properly perform surgery. In one such medical malpractice case I am handling now in the District of Columbia, a woman was paralyzed during spinal cord stimulator replacement surgery. Other cases that I have handled involved injuries to arteries during surgery and nerve compression injuries, which have caused paralysis and even quadriplegia.

Interestingly, in the Los Angeles case cited above, the county has to approve all settlements with county hospitals. In Maryland, state hospitals such as the University of Maryland Medical Center are able to settle medical malpractice cases on their own.

A jury in a medical malpractice case returned a jury verdict of $9.9 million last week to a Kentucky woman who suffered severe injuries and damages after routine heart surgery. The woman had surgery on her mitral valve in her heart in April 2006. The surgery took less than an hour and was successful. However, during the sugery, the surgeon allegedly misplaced the cannula, or hose, for a machine that pumps blood during the surgery. The woman claimed during the trial that the misplacement caused too much blood and oxygen to be pumped to her right hand and too little to her brain and spinal cord, causing her to no longer be able to walk due to paraplegia and to suffer mild to moderate brain damage.

The jury awarded the woman $455,229.06 in past medical experiences, $4,426,408.72 for future medical bills, $482,538 in lost wages and $4.5 million for pain and suffering. The total verdict was $9,864,175.78. The jury found that the anesthesiologist was responsible for 23 percent of the fault, and the perfusionist, the person who operates the heart-lung machine, was responsible for 41 percent of fault. Since the hospital defendant had already settled with the patient and did not participate in the trial, the verdict only will affect the surgeon. The jury assigned 31 percent of fault to the surgeon, or $3,057,894.49 of the total damages sought. Unless overturned during post-trial motions or on appeal, that portion of the verdict will be paid by the surgeon’s insurance company. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.

It is highly unusual for routine heart surgery to result in injuries like this. I have successfully handled a number of medical negligence cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland involving a failure to properly perform surgery, causing severe injuries and damages. Some of these medical malpractice cases have involved brain surgery, shoulder surgery, lung surgery, heart surgery, gallbladder surgery, colon surgery, etc. Its always tragic when a person suffers life-long injuries due to someone else’s medical mistake.

A Michigan husband and wife have been awarded almost $1.2 million by a jury in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed against a local doctor. The jury decided late last week after a two-day trial that the doctor was negligent regarding hernia surgery he performed in June, 2003. During the procedure, the man’s small bowel was nicked but the injury was not repaired at the time, causing him to have a septic reaction that included an long hospital stay. As part of the treatment for the nicked bowel, the man incurred several hundred thousand dollars of medical bills. The surgeon denied any negligence, saying that the patient knew of and appreciated risks and hazards involved in the medical treatment. The man’s wife was awarded $50,544 for being deprived the comfort, companionship, society, and services of her husband. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

I have successfully handled a number of medical negligence / medical error cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland, and the District of Columbia, involving surgical malpractice. In this case, the malpractice probably was not causing the injury to the bowel, as that can happen during abdominal surgery. The problem here was the failure to timely diagnose (recognize) and treat the injury once it occurred. Before finishing up the hernia surgery, the surgeon should have checked to make sure that there was no unintended injury to organs including the bowel, found the injury and then repaired it. By not timely recognizing and repairing it, the man developed a severe abdominal infection, which progressed to sepsis, which is when the infection spreads through the blood to the rest of the body. Once the patient came out of surgery and exhibited signs and symptoms of an infection – usually abdominal pain, swelling, bloating, hardness of the abdomen – surgeon should returned the patient to surgery as soon as possible to stop the leak, wash out the abdomen and start the patient on antibiotics. These cases are tragic b/c someone goes in for a routine procedure and should be back on their feet in a few days, but ends up a long hospitalization, extensive medical care and problems that can last a lifetime.

I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving doctors (surgeons usually) injuring an artery or vein during a surgical procedure. For example, in one severe injury case, a spinal / orthopedic surgeon was installing hardware on the cervical spine of a woman who had cervical disk (disc) disease, when he hit an artery with a drill and caused the woman to have a severe stroke. The storke caused the woman to have a lifetime of medical and other care expenses as a result of the surgeon’s negligence.

In another case, a woman who had a long history of peripheral vascular disease underwent a bypass of the blood vessells of her lower leg, called a fem-pop (femoral to popliteal) bypass. After the surgery, the woman complained to her doctor of excessive bleeding from the surgical wound site. The surgeon negligently said not to worry about it, and told the woman that if she kept on bleeding she should put her finger on the wound to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, when the woman went to sleep that night, the wound really opened up and she bled profusely. She woke up covered in blood and screaming, causing her family to rush to her rescue. Unfortunately, she could not reach medical treatment in time and bled to death (exsanguinated).

A New Jersey doctor's medical license has just been suspended after regulators determined that he performed the wrong surgery on a patient, by removing the wrong lung, then tried to cover up the error. The New Jersey Board found Dr. Santusht Perera removed a portion of the patient's right lung when he should have been removing a tumor in the left lung. According to the Board, the surgeon then told the patient that the right lung contained a life-threatening tumor, though there was no such growth. He also altered the patient's records to show he intended to operate on the right lung. The board determined that Perera's actions constituted gross negligence. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

While most medical care is good, sadly there are significant number of doctors and hospital staff who commit serious medical malpractice / medical mistakes each day. In the case above, the patient's healthy lung was removed while the cancerous lung was left unaltered. As if that is not bad enough, the doctor then tried to cover up his mistake. Like in this case, the doctor usually gets caught.

Unfortunately, I have been involved in a number of cases in which doctors and hospital personnel in the Baltimore, Maryland and Washington area have tried to cover up their medical malpractice / medical negligence / medical mistakes by changing or altering medical records. Surprisingly, it is not always hard to catch these people. After having reviewed hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of medical malpractice cases, I know what to look for in a medical chart, both in terms of what should be in there and what should not be in there. We also have the experience and resources to have a forensic document examiner test a document to determine whether there is anything unusual about the document.

For example, I was involved in one medcial malpractice case in Maryland where a doctor said he told my client to follow-up after an abnormal chest x-ray, but there was no subsequent visit. The doctor even pointed to an entry in his chart that he had written which said that he told the patient to follow-up. This was a critical issue in the case because if the doctor did not tell the patient to follow-up, everyone in the case agreed he would have committed malpractice. If he did tell the patient to follow-up and she didn't, she certainly would have lost the case because the jury would have found her to be guilty of contributory negligence. The client's family was sure that if she had been told to follow-up, she would have. But she was dead and so we couldn't have her deny the doctor's claim. So, I obtained the original medical record and had it tested by a forensic document examiner who was able to prove - by highly magnifying the section where the doctor allegedly told the patient to follow - that the line containing the follow-up recommendation was written with a different pen then the rest of the entry for that day. That was enough to get the case to settle! If necessary, we were prepared to have the ink on the medical record tested to determine the date on which it was written, but that wasn't necessary.

In another Maryland medcial malpractice case, a women died a couple of days after minimally invasive gallbladder surgery (called a laparoscopic cholecystectomy). Strangely to me, the surgeon did not dictate his operative report for months after the surgery. In fact, he waited to dictate it until after the woman's autopsy report came out. The autopsy showed that there had been a leak of bile from the gallbladder's cystic duct after the surgery. When I finally got my client's operative report, it was a full 3 pages long and went on and on about how he carefully did this, and carefully checked that before finishing the surgery. That operative note was suspicious to me because I had seen a number of operative reports from other gallbladder cases I had reviewed and all of those operative reports had been only a paragraph long and certainly no more than one page. When I took the surgeon's deposition, I purposely got him to say that his operative report in my client's case was typical of his operative reports in other gallbladder cases and that he would expect all his other gallbladder operative reports to look virtually the same as my client's. Right after the doctor's deposition, I subpoenaed the last 10 gallbladder operative reports that he generated before and after my client's surgery. When I got those reports, as I had suspected, all 20 were only one paragraph long - which was in stark contrast to our client's 3 page long operative report in which tjhe doctor claimed to check and double-check everything. At trial, the jury hated the doctor for lying under oath during his deposition, and trying to avoid responsibility for killing his patient, and rendered a verdict in excess of $3 million. That is what you can do when you know what to look for!!!!

A Rhode Island man has been awarded $2 million due to allegations that he suffered brain damage because he did not receive proper care during open heart surgery at a Rhode Island hospital. The man alleged in his lawsuit that he got low amounts of oxygen to his brain during the 1998 operation. A copy of the article regarding the verdict can be found here.

These type of medcial malpractice cases can be catastrophic becuase of their severe and long-term consequences. As an attorney in Baltimore, I am frequently called upon to evalute whether there has been medical malpratice at two of the leading hospitals in the region, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the University of Maryland Medical System. They frequently perform some of the most cutting edge procedures known in medicine, including open heart surgery. Yet sometimes, these procedures have catastrophic results due to medical malpractice. When that happens, we investigate and pursue medical malpractice cases against Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland Medical System. Over the years, we generally have been very successful in these cases.