Medical Malpractice

Maryland Arbitration Award Affirmed Due to Defendant’s Failure to Follow Procedural Requirements for Appeal

March 27, 2016 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland recently reviewed an appeal involving the arbitration of a medical malpractice claim in Castles of Love Assisted Living Homes, LLC v. Blanks (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Mar. 2, 2016). The issue on appeal was whether the defendant satisfied procedural rules when it sent notice of its rejection of a health care arbitration award by regular mail instead of certified mail.

In Castles of Love Assisted Living Homes, LLC, the plaintiff was a resident of a nursing home facility from 2008 until her death. The plaintiff filed a professional negligence complaint against the facility, alleging that she had sustained numerous injuries and was rendered mute due to an infection from a feeding tube while at the facility. The case was referred to arbitration pursuant to the Health Care Malpractice Claims Act. The arbitration panel found the facility liable for the plaintiff’s injuries and awarded $25,000 in non-economic damages as well as her arbitration costs.

The defendant sent a letter rejecting the panel’s findings and recommendations by certified mail to the Health Care Arbitration Office (HCAO), and a copy by regular mail to the plaintiff’s counsel. The defendant also attempted to vacate the award by filing a motion with the circuit court, which was denied because there was no open case. The HCAO then concluded that the defendant was bound by its decision because the defendant failed to properly serve the plaintiff with its rejection letter. The HCAO then filed a motion with the circuit court to confirm the award, which was granted. The defendant subsequently appealed the circuit court’s ruling.

Maryland Court Affirms Summary Judgment Against Plaintiff in Medical Malpractice Case

March 21, 2016 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland recently reviewed a trial court’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of the defendants in a medical malpractice action. In Hannon v. Mercy Med. Ctr., Inc. (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Jan. 11, 2016), the plaintiffs brought a wrongful death and survival action against the doctor and hospital that treated the plaintiff’s father prior to his death. Three months before trial, the court allowed the plaintiffs’ counsel to withdraw. The plaintiffs were unable to retain new counsel less than a month later. When the plaintiffs were unable to secure their sole expert witness to testify at trial, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the plaintiffs could not make a prima facie case for medical malpractice. The circuit court granted the motion, and the plaintiffs appealed.

In Hannon, the plaintiffs designated a board-certified internist as their sole expert witness. The expert’s deposition was taken, and the plaintiffs informed the defendants that they intended to take a videotaped deposition of their expert for use at trial. However, two weeks before trial, the plaintiffs cancelled the expert’s deposition. On appeal, the plaintiffs argued that the discovery deposition was sufficient to establish their case and survive summary judgment. The defendants responded that the plaintiffs could not establish their case at trial without any expert testimony.

Maryland Court of Special Appeals Holds Lower Court Erred in Setting Aside $926,000 Jury Award in Medical Malpractice Case

March 17, 2016 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

In a recent opinion, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals held that a trial court erred in setting aside a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiffs and entering judgment for the defendants in a medical malpractice action. In Gibau v. Falik, (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Dec. 22, 2015), the decedent was hospitalized after suffering an assault and eventually died. The decedent’s survivors brought a wrongful death action based on the alleged medical malpractice of the treating physician. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant breached the standard of care when he decided not to administer anti-seizure medication to the decedent, and when he failed to transfer the decedent back to the intensive care unit on the morning of his death. The plaintiffs claimed that the alleged medical malpractice caused the decedent to suffer a seizure, which ultimately resulted in his death.

After trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs in the amount of $926,640. The circuit court then granted the defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, but on grounds that were not raised by the defendant. Instead, the circuit court concluded that no reasonable trier of fact could have found that the defendant breached the standard of care in the case, nor that the alleged breach was a causative factor in the defendant’s death.

Maryland Court of Special Appeals Upholds Majority of Million-Dollar Jury Verdict in Medical Malpractice Case

December 9, 2015 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland reviewed a medical malpractice case, Upper Chesapeake Health Center, Inc. v. Gargiulo, et al., in which the survivors and estate of the victim were awarded a total of $908,238.05 in damages by the jury. On appeal, the defendants argued a number of issues, and the plaintiffs presented additional issues in a cross-appeal. Ultimately, the court vacated the judgment with respect to the damages awarded for pain and suffering to the estate, but otherwise it affirmed the judgment in favor of the plaintiffs.

In Upper Chesapeake Health Center, Inc. v. Gargiulo, et al., the patient was admitted to the hospital with infected ulcers, a resulting complication of her multiple sclerosis. The patient’s condition deteriorated during hospitalization, until the doctors informed her family that she was a candidate for hospice care. Later that day, the doctors initiated hospice care, discontinuing the patient’s antibiotics and administering increased doses of painkillers. A few days later, the patient died. The survivors brought a wrongful death suit against the patient’s doctors and the hospital based on medical malpractice, alleging that the patient’s death was caused by the rapid increase of pain medications.

Maryland Court Allows Plaintiff to Bring Wrongful Death Suit Based on Same Conduct as Prior Personal Injury Case

August 21, 2015 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals recently filed an unreported opinion in the case of McQuitty v. Spangler, Md. Ct. Sp. App. (2015), in which they decided the issue of whether the decedent’s survivors could bring a wrongful death action for the same conduct as the underlying personal injury action, after the decedent won the personal injury action.

The decedent was born in 1995 with severe cerebral palsy. In 2001, the parents of the decedent brought a personal injury action against the doctors on his behalf, alleging medical malpractice and breach of informed consent. After a jury trial, the decedent received a judgment in his favor in 2006, which was affirmed after several rounds of appeal. The decedent died in 2009, and his estate recovered money damages from the defendants in satisfaction of the judgment in March 2012.

On May 17, 2012, the decedent’s survivors brought a wrongful death action against the same parties, based on the same conduct that brought about the medical malpractice suit. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the principle of res judicata barred the survivors from bringing essentially the same suit against them. The circuit court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, and the survivors appealed to the Court of Special Appeals.

Maryland Court of Appeals Rules Medical Malpractice Suit Barred by Statute of Limitations

August 20, 2015 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

In a recently published opinion, the Maryland Court of Appeals examined the issue of whether or not the statutory savings clause for medical malpractice actions applies to a voluntary dismissal by stipulation between the parties. The court in Wilcox v. Orellano clarified that the exception to the limitations period does not apply to any voluntary dismissal, including one filed pursuant to stipulation, and held that the plaintiff was barred from re-filing her claim.

In Maryland, the Health Care Malpractice Claims Act (HCMCA) governs actions against a health care provider for a medical injury. A plaintiff must first file the claim with the Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (HCADRO), and within 90 days, file a certificate of a qualified expert along with a report of the attesting expert. The plaintiff may then arbitrate or file a claim in circuit court.

In Wilcox, the plaintiff filed a claim against her doctor with HCADRO and subsequently filed a certificate of qualified expert, but not a report. The plaintiff choose to proceed with her claim in circuit court, where the defendant-doctor moved to dismiss for failure to include the required report. Since the defendant had already filed an answer, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the action by stipulation of both parties. The plaintiff filed a second claim with HCADRO and again chose to proceed in circuit court. However, while the plaintiff’s first action was filed within the period of limitations, her second action was not.

Maryland Court Allows Habit Evidence of Doctor in Medical Malpractice Action

July 15, 2015 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

A newly issued decision from the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland addresses the admissibility of testimony regarding a doctor’s customary practice in a medical malpractice suit. The court held that the trial court acted within its discretion in admitting habit evidence regarding an emergency room physician’s procedures when examining a patient on a backboard.

In Rosebrock v. Eastern Shore Emergency Physicians, LLC, the patient was taken to the emergency room on a backboard, complaining of knee, hip, and lower back pain following a slip and fall accident. She was diagnosed by the attending physician as having knee and hip contusions, and she was discharged. Continuing to experience back pain, the patient sought medical attention from several other doctors. Subsequent medical tests revealed that the patient, in fact, had a fractured vertebrae, which required surgery. As a result of an infected surgical wound, the patient then suffered anoxic brain injury, which left her in a vegetative state until her death seven years later.

At issue on appeal in the medical malpractice case was whether the attending emergency room physician, who could not remember treating the patient specifically, could testify as to her usual procedure of examining patients on a backboard.

Maryland Court of Special Appeals Rules in Medical Malpractice Case

June 24, 2015 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals recently rendered a decision in a case, Powell v. Wurm, Md. Ct. Sp. App. (2015), that arose under a medical malpractice cause of action.

The issue fell within the Maryland Health Care Malpractice Claims Act, which requires a plaintiff to file a contemporaneous statement from a qualified expert with the medical malpractice claim.

In the case, the plaintiff, as the personal representative for the estate of the decedent, filed a medical malpractice action and included a certificate of a qualified expert and the report from a medical expert retained by the estate.

wrongful death caused by intoxicated driver

December 23, 2011 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

In a recent wrongful death claim a Missouri police officer allegedly caused an accident that resulted in four deaths. A settlement was reached for $ 2.25 million to the surviving family members of the deceased parties. The driver, a police officer, was apparently intoxicated at the time of the collision and had significant blood alcohol levels in her blood even three hours after the accident. Read more about wrongful death cases here.

Bus accident
12/08/2011 09:35:27 AM

A jury in New York recently awarded 7.5 million dollars to two women who were involved in a bus accident. Apparently, the bus ran a red light and struck an automobile, thereby causing significant injuries to the two women. The bus company was offered a settlement of $ 3 million but declined. Now they are exposed to the 7.5 million verdict. Bus accident can be particularly catastrophic because of the size of the bus and the inability to stop a bus as quickly as an automobile. If you or a loved one is involved in a bus accident, call the Law Firm of foran & Foran, P.A. Continue Reading ›

Ski accident leads to settlement for beginner student

June 25, 2010 | by Foran & Foran, P.A.

Dartmouth College recently settled a lawsuit with regarding a student who was injured in a skiing accident that occurred while she was taking a skiing class. Apparently, the student skied into a tree during class. She was not wearing a helmet and was just a beginner. The student remained in a coma for 6 months before dying. This was a confidential settlement. Although there was probably an element of assumption of the risk in this case, the fact that the instructor did not have a beginning student wearing a helmet probably is what caused the defendant to agree to a settlement.