Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of two sons whose father killed their mother, alleging that the steroids and drugs prescribed to their father were a factor in the killing. The suit alleges that a family nurse practitioner at a local clinic, began prescribing medications to their father in April of 2007. In May, she increased the doses for the two powerful steroids that she previously prescribed without consulting the physician supervisor or any other medical doctor. In July, the nurse added a prescription for a psycho stimulant with similar risks associated to methamphetamine.

On December 20, 2007, their mother obtained a restraining order against their father. The next day, their father returned to the Clinic and was experiencing toxic side effects from the combination of his prescribed medications. On January 2, 2008, their mother signed a petition for temporary separation from her husband. On January 6, their father shot their mother 13 times in a church parking lot, in front of their two sons.

The father plead guilty to aggravated murder but stated that he would not have killed his wife if he had not been on the medications he was on. The lawsuit claims that the nurse was negligent in not consulting with a medical doctor in prescribing and increasing the dosages of the medications and for keeping the patient on the medications despite signs of toxicity. The lawsuit also names the supervising doctor and the clinic and seeks general, special and punitive damages.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice please call my office at 1 (800) 320-0080 for a free consultation.http://www.maryland-attorney.us/lawyer-attorney-1112627.html

In 2007, a 17-year-old girl, was refused a liver transplant by her health insurance company. The transplant was denied because the health insurance company said that it was experimental and was not covered. After a storm of publicity, the health insurance company agreed to the transplant nine days later but it was too late and the 17-year-old girl died a few hours later. Ten months later, the deceased' mother went to the insurance company's headquarters and announced at the security desk in the lobby that "You guys killed my daughter. I want an apology." Instead of an apology, she got heckeled by insurance employees looking down into the atrium lobby from a balcony above and one of them gave her the "finger."

The child's parents parents filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the insurance company's for their child's death due to insurance company's refusal to pay for the transplant. A Los Angeles judge threw out the complaint, saying that it was barred by a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that shields employer-paid healthcare plans from damages over their coverage decisions. Under the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA, the only monetary damages that beneficiaries of workplace health plans can sue for is the cost of the treatment of service in dispute, not damages arising out of refusal of the treatment.

Recently, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the parents could pursue damages for any emotional distress caused by the incident at the insurance company's headquarters. The parent's of the child are hoping that by bringing the wrongful-death suit the legislature will see that ERISA needs to be revised and that insurance companies need to be liable for their treatment decisions.

If you or a loved one has been injured by delay in coverage by health insurance companies or have been injured by negligence of a third person call my Rockville or Baltimore offices for an initial case review and consultation at 1-800-320-0080.