Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog

An Elkon lawyer representing the family of a Cecil County man who filed a pharmacy misfill lawsuit against Wal-Mart reports that the parties have reached settlement. The decedent allegedly received the wrong prescriptions intended for another patient from a Wal-Mart pharmacist and subsequently died.

The decedent (I hate naming names so I use the annoying term "decendent") died in March 2007 at Union Hospital in Elkton, eight days after receiving the wrong prescription. His children brought a wrongful death and a survival action against Wal-Mart for the pharmacy misfill.

You can find the WJZ-13 article on the case here.

In Allen v. United States, the government received summary judgment in North Dakota District Court in a medical malpractice case because they failed to retain an expert to offer opinions as to causation.

Plaintiff received transfusions at the Grand Forks Air Force Base Hospital in South Dakota over ten years ago. In 2005, while attempting to obtain life insurance, the plaintiff was diagnosed with Hepatitis C virus. Plaintiff claimed the government committed medical malpractice for failing to screen the blood she received and for failing to timely diagnose and treat her for the Hepatitis C virus.

Continue reading " Expert Testimony in Medical Malpractice Cases: Summary Judgment Granted in Malpractice Case in North Dakota " »

My insurance law class begins with a case called GAF Corp. v. County School Board, a Virginia case that addresses the question of what constitutes insurance. This is not exactly an issue that gets a lot of media attention, being mostly discussed, outside of this case, by geeky insurance law types.

The Maryland Daily Record has an article today about the Maryland Insurance Commissioner's questions of whether some types of retainer agreements between doctors and patients should be regulated because they constitute insurance.

Doctors on retainer - also called concierge or boutique medicine - is the latest rage for Maryland doctors who are looking to increase profits by charging a retainer to those who can afford it. In return the clients receive perks, such as house calls, no waiting for appointments, and other personalized attention you would expect to get in Mayberry, as opposed to 2009.

Because it sounds a little like medical insurance, paying a "premium" for an uncertain possibility, this model has begun to attract regulatory scrutiny in Maryland. From the article, it sounds like Maryland is taking a wise approach: we won't call it insurance but doctors need to make sure you are operating within reasonable limits if you want to avoid regulation.

I stumbled on this USA Today Editorial from last month arguing that best way to reduce medical malpractice cases is to look to find ways to decrease medical errors.

This certainly appeared to be the view of President-elect Obama before the campaign. I'm not sure where the new "middle of the road" Obama is on this issue. But I really don't think the medical malpractice tort reform issue is going to gain much currency with the 111th Congress.

We start the year off with an article from Chattahbox.com. I've never heard of it. But this website reports on a new survey conducted by Columbia University’s Institute on Medicine that found 49% of doctors have witnessed serious medical mistakes conducted by another health care provider but refused to report it.

Troubling but nothing earthshattering. Similar statistics have been floating around. But what is compelling is the second paragraph of the article:

This shocking statistic shows the way our overly litigious society has effected the way that doctors operate, as well as the level of trust patients can put on their doctors, knowing that they are not likely to be truthful about mistakes of those in their office, much less their own.

The author, who is appropriately concerned by the statistic, still feels compelled to blame medical malpractice lawyers for the fact that doctors don't report each others' mistakes. This complusion to blame medical malpractice lawyers for every failing in the medical profession is such as classic form of blame shifting that apparently is working. This article provides yet another piece of support for this premise.