Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

In the new unreported Maryland Appellate Court case of Grgac v. Dash,  the court examined an appeal against a summary judgment in favor of a doctor and Johns Hopkins Hospital. The primary legal question centered on the applicability of the statute of limitations in a medical malpractice case concerning the alleged failure to diagnose multiple sclerosis (MS).

The appellate court upheld the summary judgment, emphasizing that the injury, as defined in medical malpractice law, occurred when the patient first experienced symptoms indicative of MS, which in Grgac’s case was no later than 2011.

Furthermore, in addressing Grgac’s request for an extension of time to file an opposition, the court found no abuse of discretion in its denial, underscoring the importance of adhering to procedural timelines in spite of the plaintiff’s contention that she was put in a really tough spot with her lawyer withdrawing in the middle of the case.

A Jury Verdict Research study found that the average verdict in an improper medication case is $3,539,541.

That is a big number. The median, which many consider a more accurate number, is $1.2 million. Verdicts ranged from $2,074 to $35,500,000. But only 28% of medication error plaintiffs recover at trial. I think the problem in many medication error cases where plaintiffs do not prevail is causation because sometimes the medication error compounds a larger pre-existing health condition and it is difficult for the jury and the doctors to sort it out.

medication error settlement amountsIncredibly, 1.5 million people are victims of medication errors every year, according to an Institute of Medicine study from a few years ago. Most of these errors are relatively harmless.

leg injury verdictsJury Verdict Research published data on verdicts in severe leg injury cases over the 10 years prior to October 2010. By severe, I mean severe: crush injuries and amputations. For injuries to one or both legs, and leg injuries resulting in varying degrees of leg amputations, the statistics are:

INJURY AVERAGE MEDIAN
One or Both Legs $4,000,000 $2,400,000

The average verdict in these cases is approximately $4,000,000 and the median verdict is $2,400,000 for injuries to one or both legs, and leg injuries resulting in varying degrees of leg amputations.

The leg amputation categories include both traumatic and surgical amputations. The relatively insignificant difference surprised me between above the knee and below the knee amputations:

INJURY AVERAGE MEDIAN
Above the knee $3,958,003 $2,588,649
Below the knee $4,930,186 $3,727,500
Bilateral Amputation $13,392,589 $5,012,500

As you can see, the median for bilateral amputations is a statistically insignificant difference from a single above the knee amputation.

This is interesting data and useful to use in negotiating your case. But asking the numbers to make sense is asking too much.

Settlements & Verdicts – Serious Leg Injuries

Below are summaries of cases resulting in verdicts or settlements where the primary injury was a serious leg injury,

Smith v. Elseroad (Baltimore City 2023) $425,000: The plaintiff was standing between two parked cars when the defendant motorist smashed his vehicle into the rear of one of the cars, pushing it forward into the plaintiff and crushing the plaintiff between the parked cars. The plaintiff suffered a bilateral leg crush injury resulting in permanent injuries, a right fibular head fracture, a permanent concave deformity on his calf, and permanent scarring on his lower body.

Hupp v. United States (D. Md. 2021) $729,000: Plaintiff suffered multiple fractures to his left ankle, requiring fusion and resulting in loss of motion and pain, as well as aggravation of preexisting condition, when the motorcycle he was operating was struck by a USPS mail truck that backed up from a parked position without warning, causing his left leg to be pinned under the motorcycle.

Johnson v. Bautista (Baltimore County 2021) $2,458,000: plaintiff suffered crush injuries to his right leg, including fractures to his right femur and tibia and nerve damage requiring surgery followed by physical therapy, and resulting in the permanent loss of feeling in his right foot and a combined right leg/lower extremity impairment rating of 46 percent. Jury awarded $208,000 in economic damages and $2.2 million for pain and suffering.

Thomas v. MTA (Baltimore City 2019) $1,200,000: plaintiff, a water taxi deckhand, suffered multiple fractures to her left leg and an open fracture of her left ankle, both of which required extensive surgeries, including placement of rods and screws and skin grafting, and resulted in extensive scarring on her leg. Case settled for $1.2 million.

Turner v. Brown (Baltimore City 2018) $390,394: plaintiff suffered a left leg hairline fracture, a left knee meniscus tear that required surgery when he was struck by a commercial vehicle driven by the defendant.

Patton v. Ruiz (P.G. County 2017) $1,584,296: plaintiff suffered right leg compound fractures, including a right knee fracture, resulting in persistent leg and knee pain and weakness and permanent radicular symptoms related to his leg and knee, when defendant allegedly made a left turn at an intersection on a steady red light and struck the plaintiff’s vehicle as it was proceeding through the intersection on a green light.

Koger v. Mabato (Baltimore City 2017) $1,203,013: Plaintiff was hit by a mobility bus in an intersection and suffered a fractured right distal femur, which required open reduction and internal fixation surgery and resulted in permanent impairment, as well as a fractured scapula, resulting in difficulty walking, standing, sitting and using stairs, continuing pain and permanent impairment of his right knee/leg.

Osteomyelitis is a serious bone infection characterized by inflammation of the bone/bone marrow that can prove fatal if not properly treated.  Usually, when it is not properly treated, it is because a doctor has misdiagnosed the condition.  This happens far more often than it should.

Osteomyelitis is caused by bacterial or fungal infections. If caught early, the condition is treatable with antibiotics and, sometimes, surgery. However, if left untreated because of misdiagnosis, the infection can spread to other parts of the body. If bone death occurs, amputation may be the only option to prevent the spread of infection. We are focusing our attention on humans, obviously. But osteomyelitis is not limited to humans.  Elephants, in particular, are prone to this condition, which is often misdiagnosed and leads to their death.

If you have a potential osteomyelitis medical malpractice claim in Maryland, call us at 800-553-8082 or visit our website for a free online consultation.

Medical malpractice cases involving a stroke can be a challenge.  Stroke cases are difficult to prove. Are there viable cases?   Absolutely.

This post is for lawyers who are getting stroke misdiagnosis cases but do not know whether the claim is viable. There are common threads that run through the most successful stroke misdiagnosis/failure to treat cases.  Cases that result in a settlement or a jury verdict for the plaintiff are usually one of these two breeds: Failing to prevent a stroke and failing to treat a stroke once it has occurred. Continue reading

Last week in Lamalfa v. Hearn, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that medical records could be admitted over hearsay objections when the records are relied on by an expert witness and the records satisfy 4 conditions of Maryland Rule 5-703(b).

Like most states, Maryland has a statutory business records exception to the hearsay rule.   The thinking is that businesses — most businesses, anyway — keep reliable records which makes them more trustworthy than other forms of hearsay.  So admitting hospital records into evidence is a common practice in malpractice and other injury and wrongful death cases.

The post looks at Lamalfa and how to admit medical records at trial with a sample direct examination.

In this post, I will explain how to check to see if a particular doctor has ever been sued for medical malpractice or had a malpractice claim filed against them.

Many prospective patients want to know about prior malpractice suits when shopping for a new doctor. Others become interested in a medical practitioner’s prior malpractice history after a bad experience and are considering whether to pursue their medical malpractice lawsuit.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of checking out a doctor’s malpractice history, I feel obligated to offer at least a little cautionary wisdom. Just because a doctor has previously been sued for medical malpractice does not mean that they are a terrible doctor. The simple reason for this is that medical malpractice lawsuits are common.

On this page, we will look at medical malpractice cases involving misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis of bowel cancer. We will examine the typical allegations of medical negligence in these cases and what their average settlement compensation value is.

About Bowel Cancer

Bowel cancer is a general term for cancer that originates in the large bowel. The large bowel (large intestine) includes both the colon and rectum which together form the last part of the human digestive system. The bowel plays a key role in final waste removal from the body by turning liquified food waste from the small intestine into solid waste. It is basically like the body’s trash compactor.

In Billing v. Moulsdale, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals overturned a defense verdict and granted the plaintiff a new trial in malpractice lawsuit on damages only.

What the doctor was found to have done as a matter of law is pretty gross doctor are pretty gross.  Essentially, and you can read the case if you want all the details, the doctor performed a breast and vaginal exam on a patient that was completely unrelated to the care he was providing.

Was this a one-time thing?  It never is.  Dr. Moulsdale surrendered his medical license after more women than just the plaintiff accused him of performing unwarranted and unnecessary breast, pelvic, and rectal examinations on several female patients.

In Adventist Healthcare Inc. v. Mattingly, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals (COSA) was asked to consider whether a mother’s decision to cremate her son’s remains amounted to the destruction of evidence in a subsequent lawsuit for medical malpractice. The COSA ruled that having remains cremated does not constitute spoliation of evidence in a subsequent malpractice case. The Court held that family members have no duty to preserve evidence from the body or allow potential malpractice defendants to examine the body independently.

Facts of Adventist Healthcare Inc. v. Mattingly

The decedent (Mattingly) underwent surgery to reverse a colostomy at Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland. Five days after the surgery, Mr. Mattingly died while still in the hospital. Mattingly’s mother was with him at the hospital when he died, and she immediately suspected that the doctors and staff had been negligent. She wanted an autopsy performed to learn the cause of her son’s death, but she didn’t trust anyone at the hospital to give her an honest opinion.

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