As a Maryland medical malpractice attorney, I am occasionally asked what the difference is among the type of medical malpractice cases that are called wrongful birth and wrongful life cases. These type of cases generally fall into three categories.
Improper Injection Medical Malpractice
A New York jury has awarded $1.7 million in damages to a woman in a medical malpractice case, to compensate her for permanent nerve damage that was caused by an improper injection given to her following the delivery of her baby. The woman was given an intramuscular injection several hours after delivery, while in the recovery room, to try to stop her vomiting. But the nurse improperly administered the injection too low, damaging the woman’s sciatic nerve. The woman now has lower back problems, difficulty sitting and standing for any significant period of time and limitations on her physical activities. The condition is expected to worsen. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.
Failure to Diagnose Kidney Stone Infection Causing Death
A South Carolina jury has awarded $3 million in a medical malpractice case to the family of a 25-year-old woman who died after medical treatment in 2002. The woman died from an infection due to a kidney stone. After the treatment at a local emergency room, the woman was discharged and due to check-up with a urologist the following Monday. However, before she could see the doctor, she died from an infection. The jury found that the emergency room and hospital did not meet the standard of care when they failed to take appropriate vital signs and perform basic testing, which would have resulted in proper diagnosis and treatment of the infection.
Vascular Graft Malpractice
A Harford County, Maryland jury has awarded a 53-year-old woman $3.5 million in a medical malpractice case against two surgeons Dr. Roger E. Schneider, chairman of Upper Chesapeake Health System, and his partner, Dr. Mark D. Gonze, and their business, Vascular Surgery Associates. The woman underwent surgery for blocked arteries in 2007, with a terrible outcome. The woman claimed that the doctors used an improper grafting technique, which led to blood loss and damage to the woman’s spinal cord, which left the woman paraplegic, in constant pain and unable to walk. The award consisted of $1.3 million for noneconomic damages (pain, suffering, etc.), $2 million for future medical bills, and more than $200,000 for her past bills.
Lawsuit Filed Against Dr. Mark Midei, Midatlantic Cardiovascular and St. Joseph Medical Center Regarding Unnecessary Cardiac Stent
Attorneys Andrew G. Slutkin, Jamison G. White and the law firm of Silverman Thompson Slutkin & White have filed one of the first medical malpractice lawsuits against Dr. Mari Midei, Midatlantic Cardiovascular and St. Joseph Medical Center as a result of Dr. Midei unnecessary implanting a patient with a cardiac stent during cardiac catheterization. The lawsuit, which is sure to be followed by many others, makes claims for medical negligence; negligent hiring, retention and/or supervision; fraud; concealment; negligent misrepresentation; battery; intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium. A copy of the lawsuit can be viewed here
Medical Malpractice Involving Spinal Cord Injection
A Florida jury has ordered a woman’s ex-doctor to pay $36.6 million in a medical malpractice case for failing to properly perform a steroid injection, causing damage to the woman’s spinal cord. The woman now has a disfigured right arm and suffers from constant pain since the pain management doctor left her with a four-inch hole in her spinal cord. The woman had sought treatment from the doctor for a car accident.
Maryland Board of Physicians Complaint (attached) against Dr. Mark Midei charging malpractice
As I mentioned in a recent blog post, administrative charges have been filed by the Maryland Board of Physicians against Dr. Mark Midei, the Towson cardiologist accused of medical malpractice for implanting unnecessary cardiac stents in more than five hundred people. A copy of an article detailing the charges can be found here.
Administrative Charges Filed Against Dr. Mark Midei
Dr. Mark Midei, the cardiologist accused of implanting unnecessary cardiac stents in over five hundred people, has been administratively charged by the Maryland Board of Physicians, according to the charging document made public today. The charges include “gross overutilization of health care services” and “willfully making a false report or record in the practice of medicine.”
Failure to Rule Out Esophageal / Esophagus Perforation
A Pennsylvania jury has awarded $1.2 million to the widow of a man in a medical malpractice suit against a hospital and two doctors. The man died in 1999, two days after he was sent home from an emergency room, complaining he had chest pains and had been vomiting for three days. An autopsy determined that he had an ulcerated esophagus and the cause of death was sepsis caused by the perforated esophagus, which allowed food to go into his pleural cavity. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.
Medical malpractice causing cerebral palsy
An Illinois hospital, a nurse midwife and the nurse’s employer have agreed to a $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by family who alleged that they were responsible for causing their son to be born with cerebral palsy. The woman was admitted to the hospital in labor and the nurse failed to get a doctor when the woman requested one after she began experiencing complications.
Altered Pathology Report
A Maryland man has won an $800,600 verdict in a malpractice case against a California surgeon. The award included $300,000 in punitive damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Failure to Give Proper Antibiotic Causing Sepsis
A Baltimore County jury has awarded $1.44 million to the family of a man who died a day after spending six hours in a St. Joseph Medical Center emergency home. The verdict was against an emergency room doctor who works at St. Joseph.
Cardiomyopathy Causing Death of A Student Athlete
A jury in Massachusetts has awarded a husband and wife $1.6 million in a malpractice case against a doctgor over the death of their son on a college basketball court. The young man, a Senior in college at Eastern Connecticut State University, collapsed during a game due to a congenital heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The family claimed that the doctor, who had examined the young man and found him eligible to play, missed the heart condition.
Negligent Leg Surgery Causing Paralysis
A jury in Tennessee has awarded a couple from Texas more than $22 million in a medical malpractice case. The Plaintiff in the case was left paralyzed from the waist down after complications from surgery for a broken leg.
Fall From Medical Malpractice
The family of an 86-year-old Massachusetts woman has settled their medical malpractice case arising from the death of the woman after she fell from an operating table following hip surgery. The case settled for $800,000. The woman died seven days after she suffered a severe head injury during the negligent fall, as she was being prepared for transfer to her hospital bed. The fall caused severe internal bleeding and fractured her skull. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health investigated the case and concluded that the fall led to the woman’s death. It found deficiencies in procedure which led to the fall.