Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

The first individual lawsuit filed by a hepatitis C infected patient at a Medical Center was filed in district court naming the hospital and anestesiologist. The patient underwent surgery and believes an operating rooom technician, an intravenous drug user with hep-c, left a dirty needle filled with saline in place of the narcotic intended for her.The patient alleges the hospital and anestesiologist failed to follow internal polices and controlled substance laws requiring that potent drugs be either locked up or closely monitored.
Her lawyer stated we have filed this suit on behalf of the patient because she is unable to undergo medical treatment for her chronic hepatitis C and has already developed liver damage. A class action suit against the hospital has also been filed and at least 18 other patients have been found to have the same genetic strand of hep-c as the operating room technician. The technician was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice please call me for an initial free consultation at 800 320-0080 or for an appointmnet in Rockville or Baltimore offices.

St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson is facing lawsuits and two federal investigations related to its cardiac care division has just informed 169 more heart patients received costly and dangerous treatments that were not needed.
These additional cases bring the total to 538 patients notified by St. Joseph's that coronary stent implants they received at the hospital may have been unnecessary. Officials at the Hospital also said more questionable procedures may be uncovered while an internal review continues.
The St. Joseph's announcement is the latest debacle in an issue that has spawned a class action lawsuit, required the removal of a prominent physician and interested the U.S. Senate. It could also result in a multi-million dollar fine for the hospital per court records.
The hospital began investigating its heart catheterization procedures after several warnings last year from federal investigators and quickly focused on stents implanted by a leading cardiologist and senior physician, Dr. Mark Midei.
Stents, which are mesh tubes placed into damaged arteries to open them up are generally implanted in patients with at least a 70% blockage. But hospital officials in their review discovered stents implanted by Dr. Midei had insufficient blockage. And that the amount of blockage was overstated in the medical reports.
"Leaders of (St. Joseph) felt it was their ethical responsibility to notify these patients to allow them to determine if medical follow-up was appropriate." The hospital said in a statement. They reiterated that Midei (who is no longer at the hospital) is the only doctor under investigation.
In 2008 Midei was recruited to lead the cardiac catheterization department at St. Josephs from his former employer MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates of suburban Baltimore.
Last month the U.S. Senate Finance Committee requested St. Joseph to turn over all the records of its financial relationship with stent manufactures and how the $10,000 procedures were billed to federal and private insurers.
"In addition to putting the patients lives at risk unnecessary medical procedures amount to wasteful spending of precious federal health care dollars." Said the U.S. Senate in a letter to the hospital.
If you or a loved one is the victim of a medical mistake please call my office at 1 (800) 320-0080.

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

A paralyzed man won $19.2 million in a negligence claim against a local Medical Center. The patient was admitted to the hospital after complaining of severe back pain. The hospital did not conduct an MRI or CAT scan until two weeks after he was admitted. The patient was subsequently diagnosed with a spinal abscess, an infection on his spinal cord, that quickly led to permanent paralysis. This injury could have been easily avoided had the hospital taken the proper diagnostic test to determine the cause of the injury. This Hospital's failure to take the necessary actions led to this Patient's paralysis.

The suit claimed that there was not a particular physician or specialist that was directing his care contrary to the established hospital standards. After the diagnosis, a neurosurgeon tried to reverse some of the damage but it was too late. The patient has been paralyzed from the chest down and has been living in a nursing facility for five years because he was unable to get around independently in his own home. This patient requires life time care and monitoring which led to a successful verdict.

If you or a relative or a loved one has been injured as a result of other people's negligence please contact me at my offices in Rockville or Baltimore to discuss your case free of charge at (800) 320-0080.

A Hospital is being sued by the parents of two children who were killed by their aunt. The suit claims that the psychiatric facility provided inadequate care to psychiatric patient who was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, prescribed psychotropic drugs and released after 6 days. The plaintiffs claim that they were never told that patient might pose a risk to herself or others and never informed any officials or the people who come into contact with the patient.

In December 2008, unbeknownst to the parents of the two minor children the psychiatric paptient arrived at the home of the children around 8pm to pick up the two children, a 5 year-old and a 4-year-old, to spend the night at her home. They state that she was behaving normally when she arrived and took the children, however, earlier in the evening a State Police Trooper had almost detained her for a psychiatric evaluation when they found her acting erratically on the median strip of a highway, punching a motorist who had stopped to help her. The psychiatric patient told the tropper that she was having a debate between "good and evil." She calmed down and was released. After she picked up the children, she crossed the median of a highway, stopped her car going in the wrong direction, undressed herself and the two children, ran into traffic and was hit by a car which killed all three.

Psychiatric patient cases causing injuries require an indepth analysis and investigation of facts surrounding an injury and that condition must have been known to the person having the duty to inform others and as the result of such failure to warn the patient caused injury to others. Thes are extremely fact sensitive cases and appropriate fact witnesses and experts muust be employed to prosecute such cases.

If you or a person you know of has been injured or traumatized as a result of such injuries you can contact me at my Baltimore or Rockville, Maryland offices for a free consultation at (800) 320-0080.

A major Hospital settled a wrongful-death case with the family of a victim for $900,000. The case stemmed from the victim's death seven days after suffering a massive head injury due to a fall in the operating room as she was being prepared for transfer to her hospital bed. The fall caused a fractured skull and severe internal bleeding. The victim fell and broke her hip at home and was rushed to the emergency room. There it was determined that she would need surgery.
The next day, surgery was performed to repair her left hip. However, following the surgery, while the victim was still under anesthesia and had a breathing tube in her mouth, she fell as medical personnel were preparing to transfer her to her bed. A nurse had removed the belt on the surgical table in preparation to move her but did not announce that to others in the room. The family stated that they sued because they wanted to raise awareness about patient safety and to lead to changes in operating room procedures.

If you or a loved one are a victim of medical malpractice please contact my offices either in Rockville or Baltimore Md. at 1 800-320-0080 for a free consultation and case evaluation.

A Florida jury awarded a family 4.3 million dollars in a medical malpractice suit against two doctors for failing to properly diagnose their child shortly after birth. According to the allegations the doctors failed to properly perform the necessary tests to diagnose the newly born infant with enterovirus causing her to suffer from lifelong disabilities.

Shortly after the infant was born in 1994, large bruises began to appear and her skin turned yellow. Her liver showed signs of scarring and a blood clot formed in her brain. Her parents were advised to make funeral arrangements. The doctors ignored the symptoms that pointed to enterovirus, which is normally a mild virus that can become deadly in infants. The doctors failed to take blood and liver tests that would have identified the virus. Although the infant survived, the blood clot left her with a learning disability, she has severe vision problems and permanent cirrhosis of the liver.

If you or a loved one has been injured and is a victim of a medical malpractice contact me at my offices in Rockville, Md or Baltimore, Md for a free initial consultation at 1-800-320-0080.

The Indiana Medical Review Panel found that an Orthopaedic group failed to comply with appropriate standards of care that led to a woman having her leg amputated and cleared the way for the woman to go forward with her lawsuit. The patient went to an Orthopaedic group three times in March 2006 with signs and symptoms of a vascular problem in her leg. She was not diagnosed with the vascular problem and was instead given two injections into her knee.

On April 10, 2006, The patient was admitted to the hospital for loss of blood flow to her right foot and a large acute blood clot in the artery that supplies the blood to the knee and thigh. Her leg was amputated above the knee on April 14. The patient contends that the Orthopaedic group fell below the required standard of car by failing to test for the loss of blood flow in her foot after noting a lack of pulse, reddened foot and reports of unexplained pain. She was also not given a timely referral to a vascular surgeon or cardiologist.

If you have been injured by the negligence or mistake of medical professionals or their staff please visit my website at www.ostadlaw.com or call my Baltimore or Rockville office at 1-800-320-0080 for a free initial consultation.

According to a recent study between 2004 and September 2008, New York issued 16 citations to hospitals for incomplete, altered or missing medical records. In a review of the documents, it was found that the records were altered or missing when a medical screw-up was involved. Workers at city-run hospitals faked records to cover up incidents or claimed that they couldn't find the data when investigators asked.

One such incident occurred at New York Hospital. A young man showed up on September 8, 2005 and was diagnosed as suffering a "cardiac event." An IV was placed by a fourth-year medical student but it was listed in the records that a medical doctor administered the IV since med students are allowed to. Over the next two days, the medical student and several nurses made entries into the record that the patient's arm was fine, was "warm to the touch" and that there were "no signs of inflammation." During this time however, his arm was covered from the knuckles to his elbows in a material called Kerlix. When the Kerlix was removed, patient's arm was blistering and his left hand was "cool to touch and pulseless." The patient ended up having his arm amputated at the elbow.

If you have been injured by the negligence or mistake of medical professionals or their staff please visit my website at www.ostadlaw.com or call my Baltimore or Rockville office at 1-800-320-0080 for a free initial consultatio

The Centers for Disease Control ("CDC")estimates that 2 million hospital-acquired infections occur each year resulting in 90,000 deaths. It is estimated that another 1.5 million infections occur in long-term care facilities. Many people are filing and winning medical malpractice lawsuits due to acquiring these infections while in the hospital for other reasons.

Medical-malpractice defense attorneys argue that even if every hospital protocol is followed to prevent the spread of these infections, that a hospital cannot prevent all spreads. Plaintiff's attorneys argue that when the protocols are followed the spread of the infections decreases significantly. In order to win a malpractice claim, the plaintiff must be able to trace the infection and that the patient got the infection due to the hospitals negligence.

The CDC has published new guidelines for hospitals to prevent infections. Plaintiff's attorneys is perusing a malpractice claim will need an expert to say that if these precautions had been followed, the patient would not have contracted the infection. The most basic of precautions are needed to prevent the spread which include hand-washing between patients and having hospital staff do routine sterilization of the facility.

To speak to an experienced Maryland medical malpractice lawyer please contact my law offices in Baltimore or Rockville at 1(800)320-0080.

Judge John W. Debelius III, a Montgomery County Circuit court judge, held that the state's limit on medical malpractice awards only applies to lawsuits that were first submitted to arbitration. In November 2008, a jury awarded $5.8 million in the death of 47-year-old Richard H. Semsker whose untreated mole turned into skin cancer that spread to his brain. The award included $3 million in compensation for anguish he, his wife and two daughters endured during his illness and his death. That portion would have been reduced to the statutory limit of $812,500 if the cap had been applied.

Judge Debelius, in Rockville, found that the 2004 Maryland Patient's Access to Quality Health Care Act's cap has an exception for the cases that did not first go to voluntary arbitration. He stated that the change in wording in the legislation "had the effect of narrowing the ambit of the statute from general application to all medical malpractice actions to application to only certain medical-malpractice actions. The current cap for non-economic damages in med-mal cases is $665,000 for cases with one claimant and $831,000 for those with multiple claimants while in other personal injury actions the cap is $710,000 per beneficiary.

To speak to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer in Maryland please contact my law offices in Baltimore or Rockville at 1(800)320-0080

According to published reports the use of independent medical examiners, or Independent Medical Examinations ("IME") as most insurance companies would call it, or Defense Medical Examinations ("DME") has come into question due to discrepancies between the exam of the person and the report of the doctor. Under the workers' compensation system, workers with bona fide injuries are entitled to medical care and replacement wages which are usually paid for by their employer's insurer. Independent exams are used to weed out workers who exaggerate injuries or get unnecessary care by having a neutral exam by a doctor that the insurance company selects and pays for. A review of case files published by the NYT found that the exam reports are routinely tilted to benefit insurers by minimizing or dismissing injuries.

Under Maryland Rules the insurers must seek a court order to have the injured person examined by a Defense Medical Examiner, unless both the Plaintiff and the insurer agree otherwise. Claimants are permitted to bring anyone along they choose to witness or film the sessions. But this has not stopped the doctors from saying one thing in the exam and putting the exact opposite on the report. For example, my Baltimore office had a case where the DME doctor examined an injured person whom we represented and provided two different reports with completely different scenario and opinions. A good practitioner can take advantage of these discrepancies and discredit the doctor's opinions based on his own reports.

For their part, the doctors argue that they do not write the final reports but instead either send a transcription or a checklist into the entities who the insurers go through to get the doctor appointments. The doctors then receive the report back and sign off, but as one doctor put it "I just sign them...If I read them all, I'd have them coming out of my ears and I'd never have time to talk to my wife. They want speed and volume. That's the name of the game." The insurers use of Defense Medical Examinations, that are not so independent, is a practice that is depriving many legitimately injured people from receiving the compensation they deserve and need.

Continue reading "Baltimore Personal Injury Report -- Independent Exams for Injured Workers May Not Be So Independent" »