Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog

• The family of a man who died at Massachusetts General Hospital has settled its case against the hospital for $850,000. The man died after nurses failed to respond to alarms on his cardiac monitor. This death has shed national attention on the dangers of “alarm fatigue’’ among hospital staff.
• A few New York courts are taking a new approach to handling the 4,000 medical malpractice suits filed each year. The approach...settling cases early. The pilot program will be using a $3 million grant to train more judges in medical issues, and has been shown to cut court backlogs and save money, while also proving to be a cost savings to hospitals and directly impacting the indemnity insurance of doctors. One of the new rules approved for the medical malpractice cases, in order to expedite things - scheduling Settlement Conferences 45 days after court papers are filed.
• The Tennessee Court of Appeals issued an opinion on its relatively new certificate of merit rule in Crawford v. Kavanaugh. Maryland has a similar rule and this opinion is a cautionary tale for both Tennessee and Maryland malpractice lawyers. The lesson: don't take a malpractice case unless you know how to handle it.
• It is being said that confidential settlements make it harder for future plaintiffs to get evidence and information they need to bring out all of the facts about the defendant's conduct. I agree, there is little doubt that confidential settlements make it harder for the next plaintiff, as well as making the insurance less accountable. But, the problem is that people who have been badly injured have a hard time focusing on the global interests of plaintiffs everywhere when they are fighting and scrapping to be compensated for their own injuries.
• Some experts are predicting that the increasing numbers of physicians using electronic health record systems (EHR) may trigger an increase in medical malpractice lawsuits. Regardless of the concern, the federal government is pushing physicians to implement and use EHR systems, as required under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and are directing hospitals to implement the EHRs by 2012.

Medical malpractice verdicts are at new recent history lows, according to Public Citizen. Their new report tracks malpractice verdicts from National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB). The NPDB began tracking medical malpractice payments in 1990. The number of malpractice payments made on behalf of doctors in 2010 was the lowest on record. The total number of payments made on behalf of doctors fell to 10,195 in 2010; down from a high of 16,566 in 2001.

No one is suggesting that there is 33% less medical malpractice than there was in 2001. Clearly, doctors and malpractice insurers are winning the public relations war which is leading to lower verdicts and more damage caps. Will that tide turn again? Historically, the public's tolerance for injustice to victims of malpractice and injury generally waxes and wanes.

• Average medical malpractice wrongful death verdict
• An overview of medical malpractice claims

Our $2.5 million wrongful death medical malpractice verdict two weeks ago was the subject of a story in LawyersUSA this week. Unfortunately, the preceding link requires a subscription right now but, after a while, LawyersUSA usually takes down the subscription requirement.

Two usual friends, doctors and malpractice carriers, part company resulting in a $3.4 million verdict handed down against Medicus Insurance Company. A Texas jury found that the company committed unfair and deceptive practices when it wrongly denied insurance coverage to a Dallas doctor. Specifically, the jury found that the malpractice insurance company misrepresented the quality and standards of its indemnification practices, resulting in millions of dollars in damages for the doctor.

What? It is confusing. But apparently the doctor got hit with a verdict and the insurance company refused to pay, leaving the doctor in the lurch. You can get more, albeit sketchy, details here.

Last week, Rod Gaston culminated a long fight for our clients by obtaining a $2.5 million verdict in a wrongful death medical malpractice case in Montgomery County.

I'm honestly more proud of this letter from the client (which I'm publishing with permission), than the verdict:

Dear Rod,

It has been one week since our unanimous jury verdict supporting our claim of wrongful death against the doctor who failed to treat my husband. We have all had time to catch our breath and reflect on the events of our six day medical malpractice trial. There are really not enough words of praise on your handling of our case. The usual questions of friends, "Do you have a good attorney?" were answered the first day of trial with your expert presentation of the facts in our case. The question was answered with, "We are very impressed with your attorney, you are in great hands."

You showed the highest level of professionalism in your questions and cross examination of all of the witnesses. Your attention to details of medical records was amazing. Your graphic presentation of the facts was organized and simplified for the jury to understand the maze of medical data. You were quick on your feet without having to ask for the "courts indulgence" as did our opponent in citing the correct information. You knew the facts.

You found changes to the medical record and were able to reveal the lack of standard of care and true arrogance of the doctor and some of his witnesses who changed deposition testimony while testifying on the stand. Again you knew our case and readily pointed out deficiencies in our opposition's arguments.

Most importantly, you truly cared to achieve justice for my husband and our family. No matter what the jury decided we knew we were doing the right thing in pursuing the truth that my husband did not have to die that day that way. The lack of care was evident to all of us at that time.The doctor refusing to send my husband to Johns Hopkins Hospital when a helicopter transfer had been established and only one call needed to be made by the doctor was unbelievable.

Refusing to make the call stating that my husband only needed one doctor and he would make the decision if my husband was to be transferred overrode my husband's and my repeated requests for transfer seeing that the care was not being given. My husband begged for his life and was ignored.

Your presentation of our case and your handling of opening remarks, cross examination and closing remarks resulted in a unanimous jury verdict for us. Your advice to add the 2 alternate jurors to the original 6 was a risk worth taking to prove the soundness of our case in the eyes of the opposition. Your demeanor in the courtroom exuded trust, knowledge, and a firm command of telling the truth based on the facts and records of the case.

Your counseling of all of us was direct and based on your years of experience in medical malpractice law.

There are just not enough words to express our gratitude and the peace the jury verdict has brought to our family. You asked the jury to be the voice of Larry Dixon and for the community on the type of medical care we all want for ourselves and our families. Jury members as they left the courtroom told me they took those remarks to heart and said there were 8 families that will benefit from what they learned from our case.

A fitting legacy for a wonderful husband and father who should be alive today if he had received proper care.

Your excellent litigation brought justice for our husband and father. A resounding Thank You to you most of all and to your firm which exhibited the highest form of professionalism. We will never forget you and certainly would highly recommend you to anyone for medical malpractice suits.

Sincerely,

K.D., Family and Friends

A rare medical malpractice trial where the issue was on damages: the hospital admitted fault and the jury awarded a modest - by medical malpractice trial standards where the injuries are usually catastrophic or the loss of a loved one - verdict of $250,000 which was affirmed on appeal in South Carolina.

The defendant made an interesting argument on appeal, arguing that the trial court should have excused "all potential jurors who owed a debt" to the hospital. The trial court removed the four venire members against whom the hospital held civil judgments but denied the hospital's request to remove others whose debts to AnMed were in default. It is incredible how many people owe debts to the hospital. I can see a juror or two. The hospital asked the appellate court for a a bright-line rule to categorically exclude from jury service all prospective jurors who are in debt to a party in the lawsuit.

Appellate courts have bright line rules. So they relied on the catch all "Does any member feel like they have any interest, sensitivity, bias or prejudice which would prevent you from being a fair and impartial juror in this case?"

I agree with the holding but would it be a better idea to exclude those jurors who the hospital had sent to a collections agency? Even I admit that it would be.

You can read the full opinion here.

A Queens couple was awarded $5.5 million by a hospital medical malpractice lawsuit involving injuries that occurred during childbirth.

The Business Wire article is really a press release so we don't exactly have impartial journalist providing the information. Remember in this post I'm taking the press release at face value ($5.5 million verdict makes this easier), it sound like the delivering doctor's arrogance contributed both to the woman's injuries and the jury's verdict. Ultimately, the claim is that the woman asked for a c-section and the doctors and nurses just ignored her.

Sometimes, I think malpractice lawyers get so bogged down in the medicine that I think there is a tendency to forget the human aspect of how juries react to doctors. This doctor apparently testified that he wondered in and out while this woman was begging for a c-section. Either he was not properly prepared to testify or the doctor was just too arrogant to control. Because you can say the same thing without sounding like a complete jerk.

Plastic surgery malpractice cases are extremely difficult to win not because malpractice in plastic surgery is rare but because it is incredibly difficult to prove. We have never taken a plastic surgery malpractice case and probably never will.

So credit is due to a New Jersey plaintiffs' medical malpractice lawyer who won a jury verdict in an eye surgery case. The case involves a blepharoplasty, eyelid surgery that basically makes your eyes look younger.

Defendant's medical malpractice lawyer showed the generosity of spirit for which malpractice defense lawyers are known, when he pointed out in a statement after the verdict that the woman had plastic surgery on 10 previous occasions. What exactly is this lawyer's point? You just lost a case - a zero offer case, by the way. After getting beat, do you really have to go after the plaintiff? What exactly is the point that is made here? She had 10 good procesures so what is one bad one? She should not be getting more plastic surgery? Than why did this doctor agree to do it? Oh, who cares? The important thing was to try to publicly embarrass the Plaintiff. Well, then, mission accomplished.

A hospital leaves a 4-inch-long piece of plastic tubing inside an infant boy at birth. The child may have a permanent injury. What should the verdict be? How much is that medical malpractice lawsuit worth?

If a potential client called our law firm and asked that question, I would say I have absolutely no idea. There are just too many details you would need to know. To start, does it mean the child may have an injury? Do you know? If you don't, what are the odds the injury is permanent? Another incredibly important question: was the child in pain and if so, for how long? What are the past and expected future medical bills? Why did this mistake happen? Who made it?

The first paragraph is a fact pattern of a case that was decided recently in Washington State. The jury awarded $257,000 in this malpractice lawsuit against the hospital.

I read this entire article. I still have no idea what the value of the case should be. What are the odds this child will suffer a permanent injury from this malpractice? How much pain was the child in and can it be linked to malpractice?

I'm always taken aback when a malpractice lawyer gives a 60 word summary and every lawyer in the room thinks they can tell you the value of the case. Valuing any personal injury lawsuit is hard and malpractice claims are even that much harder to value. Malpractice lawyers always blame the hospital or the doctor's insurance company for not just putting fair value on the case from the beginning before long protracted discovery begins. Often, this is fair. But,sometimes, malpractice lawyers on both sides of the "v" need discovery to figure out the value, if any, of the malpractice lawsuit.

A Baltimore City jury last week awarded $4.1 million for a birth injury to a now 8-year-old boy. Plaintiff's lawsuit claimed the child's cerebral palsy was caused by negligence before and during delivery of the child at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

This is a big verdict, much of it in economic damages. If it stands, the award will be reduced to $3.6 million after the cap on noneconomic damages.

Congratulations to plaintiff's malpractice lawyer Keith Foreman, a former student of mine at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

The Maryland Daily Record provides more details.

Good doctors commit malpractice less often than bad doctors. But sometimes, very meritorious medical malpractice lawsuits in Maryland are brought against very good doctors who made a very unfortunate mistake.

In Florida last week, an appeals court affirmed a $2.15 million verdict that has ballooned to $4.3 million because the case is 17 years old. The verdict was against a hip specialist who has operated on the likes of New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler, golfer Greg Norman, hockey star Mario Lemieux and Olympic skater Tara Lipinski. Pretty impressive group.

But in this case, a young woman cannot walk without a cane because the doctor gouged the smooth lining of her hip joint trying to repair an injury in 1997.

That's right. 1997. The girl was 17 at the time. Ten years later, a Broward County jury awarded the woman $2.15 million after a 2007 trial. The doctor lost on appeal and the Florida Supreme Court ended the 13-year-old lawsuit last week when it refused to consider the appeal.

This case underscores for medical malpractice lawyers that sometimes there are meritorious claims against the best doctors (just like there are sometimes claims against the best lawyers).

An Illinois woman who lost her unborn baby and a small intestine after being admitted to a hospital was awarded an $11.5 million judgment Tuesday by a DuPage County jury. The jury deliberated for about five hours before awarding awarding the mom $10.5 million for her injuries and $1 million for the death of her unborn child (presumably her husband was a plaintiff in this claim as well).

The hospital named in the lawsuit showed real class after the verdict was announced:

We are disappointed with the verdict, but continue to respect the jury system. [The Hospital] is committed to providing the finest care to all of its patients. We wish the best for [the plaintiff and her husband].

I'm sure it was a tough lawsuit but the hospital apparently kept in mind that, regardless of the outcome, its patients are its patients and however it turns out, the hospital supports its patients. That seems like the way it should be.

Metro Verdicts Monthly and the Maryland Daily Record report on a $4,947,837 verdict in Montgomery County for a young woman claiming medical malpractice caused her nerve and spinal injuries. The jury awarded $2.5 million for lost wages, $276,000 for medical expenses, $675,000 for loss of consortium, and $2.1 for non-economic damages (which will be reduced to the malpractice cap).

The claim of medical negligence was atypical, particularly for a successful case: the lawsuit claimed negligent manipulation, high-velocity neck-twist caused the injuries. The issue in the case boiled down to whether the doctor, a D.O., was negligent in his manipulation of her neck and whether there was informed consent of the patient. The manipulation apparently caused an internal disc disruption at C5 and damage to the dorsal scapular nerve of her brachial plexus.

The verdict was what it was because Plaintiff was a young woman with significant future lost wages because she was unable to return to work as a physical therapist. It also sounds like she was an appealing plaintiff: she was a triathlete that had been on the swimming and cycling teams at Michigan State University.

One of my favorite parts of the Metro Verdict Monthly reports is the editor's notes on who said what about the verdict. In this case, plaintiff's medical malpractice attorney, Alan Belsky, told MVM that six of the seven medical expert witnesses who testified on behalf of plaintiff were her treating doctors. It is hard for malpractice lawyers to get subsequent treating doctors to testify in malpractice cases even when the doctors believe the negligence is clear. Having treating doctors up against the defendants' usual suspects certainly helps in the battle of the experts. If we are not sure as to whether we should take a malpractice case, a big tipping point is whether the subsequent treating doctor is willing to stand up and opine as to whether the defendant doctor committed malpractice.

This malpractice verdict actually came out in June but Metro Verdicts has a lag time of a few months in reporting on verdicts.

This month's Metro Verdicts Monthly provides the median verdict/settlement in Maryland wrongful death cases for victims over the age of 65 is $600,000.

I always caution about misleading figures but this number is beyond misleading (through no fault of MVM). The data measures Maryland wrongful death settlements and verdicts in the last 23 years and ostensibly includes only cases of which Metro Verdicts Monthly is aware and, with respect to wrongful death settlements, it is not just medical malpractice cases and many wrongful death settlements in car accident cases are purely a function of the insurance policies available (sometimes in malpractice cases, too, but much less frequently).

Also, keep in mind this data includes settlements, which apparently reduce the numbers significantly. In another MVM study, juries have over the last 22 years awarded a median award of $1,337,824 involving victims over the age of 65 in Maryland wrongful death cases.

Still, you cannot ignore the fact that all things being equal, wrongful death cases in Maryland involving older plaintiffs are worth less - all things being equal - than younger victims. There is sometimes a small measure of logic to this: the economic damages awarded in a wrongful death lawsuit are going to be statistically less for an older victim than a younger victim.

Continue reading "Wrongful Death Settlements and Verdicts for Older Victims" »

The Baltimore Sun has a short story on the $2.35 million malpractice verdict in Montgomery County against Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.

I wrote last week about the re-trial of a medical malpractice case in Illinois that discussed the issue of juror misconduct. You can find the article on the verdict here.

After that post, the jury reached a defense verdict after about two hours of deliberation.

It is hard to win a case you have already lost on juror misconduct because unless the lawyers dramatically alter their strategy, a pretty good "focus group" has already given their opinion on the case.

A recent Jury Verdict Research study looking at jury verdicts found that the average wrongful death verdict for men is $4,132,576 and the median is $1,400,000. The average wrongful death verdict for woman is $3,158,223 and the median is $1,200,000.

It is tempting to look at these numbers and provide an easy answer to the discrepancy: men make more than women. But the average wrongful death verdict for a male minor is $4,300,663 (median is $2,000,000) and the average verdict for female minors is 3,438,080 ($1,500,000 median). So it seems pretty clear that, for whatever reason, jurors place a higher value on wrongful death cases involving men and boys than women and girls.

Medical malpractice verdicts made up 36% of the verdicts in this study. Of course, this does not count settlements in wrongful death cases nor does it count defense verdicts. Certainly, when you are factoring in the settlement value of a medical malpractice case, you also need to consider Maryland’s cap on noneconomic damages because in most Maryland medical malpractice lawsuits, the cap on damages is not going to give the victim’s family much more than $1.5 million unless the economic damages (medical bills and/or past and future lost wages) are significant.

• Average Settlement/Verdict in Maryland Wrongful Death Cases
• Wrongful Death Claim Cap in Maryland
• Claims Available in Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Case in Maryland
• More on Wrongful Death Claims in Maryland
• Malpractice Lawsuits in Maryland (an overview)

The Maryland Daily Record reports on a medical malpractice verdict in Baltimore City last week. Finding a doctor that was not named in the lawsuit negligent, the jury has awarded nearly $1.37 million to the sons of a 34-year-old city woman who died during a surgical procedure at Union Memorial Hospital.

Medical malpractice occurs at Union Memorial Hospital and every other hospital in Maryland. Still, it is worth nothing that Union Memorial Hospital is a underrated Maryland hospital and it has some of the best foot, hand and ankle surgeons in the entire world (as well as a few other particularly excellent specialties).

If you have a medical malpractice claim against Union Memorial Hospital or any other hospital in Maryland call 800-553-8082 or get a free online no obligation medical malpractice claim Internet consultation.

Metro Verdicts Monthly reports on a $1,558,039 jury award in a medical malpractice case in Prince George’s County. Plaintiff’s malpractice lawsuit alleged median nerve damage as the result of medical malpractice. Specifically, Plaintiff alleged the doctor negligently performed the carpal tunnel surgery, resulting in permanent damage to the median nerve.

The jury agreed, awarding $ 1,500,000 for non-economic damages, $ 11,251 for past medicals bills; and $ 46,788 for future medicals bills. The verdict was reduced to $ 693,039 due to the Maryland cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases.

The moral of the story in this case for the medical malpractice lawyer in Maryland is that you have to look at the entire case. Many lawyers would have simply stopped at $11,251 in medical bills. The malpractice lawyer in this case kept looking further and, as a result, the Plaintiff got a good verdict – the best verdict she could have gotten in a Maryland medical malpractice case.

Related Post:

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that a Hamilton County jury found that a local, prominent gastroenterologist must pay $12 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit after a colonoscopy and endoscopy, which were meant to diagnose a 33 year old woman's bowel problems, left the plaintiff with serious brain damage.

“It is very, very difficult to get a judgment against a doctor,” said Matt Dwyer, a Georgia medical malpractice lawyer who was apparently brought in on the case. “People don’t like to find doctors at fault.”

Under Tennessee's comparative fault law, the jury found the doctor's medical malpractice was 51% percent of the cause of Plaintiff's permanent brain damage, so the actual verdict is $6.12 million.

Maryland draconian contributory negligence law requires a defense verdict in a malpractice case where a plaintiff is even 1% at fault for an accident. The article does not explain at whose lap the jury placed the other 49% of the fault. But if they placed it with someone other than the Plaintiff, Maryland’s contributory negligence law would ironically lead to a better outcome for the Plaintiff. In Maryland, you can recover a full verdict against any defendant who is a substantially contributory cause of the injury, as long as you were not also a cause of your own injuries.