Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog
A Pennsylvania jury this month awarded $12.7 million to a woman who suffered brain damage after her physicians prematurely removed her breathing tube at the conclusion of a routine tonsillectomy. At the time of the procedure, the woman was a 33 year-old special education teacher. The crux of the allegation was that the surgeon, anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist did not properly evaluate whether the anesthesia had worn off enough for her breathing tube to safely be removed. After the breathing tube was removed, it was alleged that the health care providers did not monitor the woman’s oxygen levels for sixteen minutes and when they finally did, it showed an oxygen lever of 81 percent, which her lawyers described as “dangerously low.” She was re-intubated but was unresponsive and exhibiting seizure-like involuntary limb movements.
Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Results In $25 Million Jury Verdict
After a five week trial, a Connecticut woman has been awarded $25 million to a woman whose leg was caused to be amputated due to negligent treatment of a blood clot. In November of 2009, the young and athletic woman sought treatment at a local hospital for an asthma attack. While at the hospital, the physicians voiced concern regarding the woman’s additional complaints of numbness and pain in her left leg. Diagnostic testing revealed a blood clot however because the hospital that the woman had presented to was a small, community hospital, there was no vascular surgeon on duty.
Baltimore County Jury Awards $4 Million in Medical Malpractice Case
Earlier this month, a Baltimore County, Maryland jury awarded $4 million as the result of the alleged wrongful death of a 28 year-old man whose heart disease went undiagnosed. The man was referred by his primary care physician to a cardiologist due to constant chest pain that had been ongoing for more than a year. The cardiologist in March of 2012 diagnosed him with “atypical chest pain” and sent him on his way without conducting any further studies, according to the lawsuit.
Baltimore City Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Results In $10 Million Verdict
This week, a Baltimore City, Maryland jury in a medical malpractice lawsuit awarded $10 million to the estate and surviving family members of a pastor who died after treatment for liver and kidney problems at a Baltimore City hospital. The 63-year-old man presented to the hospital for dialysis and treatment of rhabdomysolysis, a condition that is caused by the death of muscle fibers and release of their contents into the bloodstream which often causes kidney failure. During his admission to the hospital, the man experienced heart problems as the result of elevated potassium levels causing his physician to administer the medication “Kayexalate.”
Carroll County, Maryland Jury Awards $500,000+ In Medical Malpractice Case
In late May of 2012, a 75 year-old woman presented to the hospital with a deep vein thrombosis blood clot in her leg. She was treated and discharged days later with instructions to take blood thinners. Less than a week after she was discharged, she awoke in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in the hip and groin area. She was taken via ambulance to the hospital where she came under the care of two separate physicians over a period of ten hours during which time no diagnostic tests were ordered or performed. She subsequently was discharged to a nursing home with a diagnosis of musculoskeletal pain which the physicians had attributed to the woman’s deep vein thrombosis blood clot a week earlier.
Botched Delivery Results in Death of Infant, $10 Million Jury Verdict
A Texas jury has awarded $10 million to the surviving family members of an infant who suffered catastrophic injury during birth ultimately bringing her short life to an end. During the two week trial, evidence was presented that during the delivery, the Defendant-Obstetrician repeatedly applied forceps which are instruments shaped like a pair of salad spoons to the baby’s head to try help guide the baby out of the birth canal. It was only after a fourth attempt with forceps failed to free the infant that the obstetrician decided to convert to a cesarean delivery.
Dallas Jury Awards $19.7 Million in Medical Malpractice Case
This week, a jury hearing a medical malpractice case in Dallas awarded $19.7 million to the family of a woman who suffered catastrophic and ultimately fatal brain damage as the result of her healthcare providers’ negligence. In 2013 the woman presented to a local hospital with a chief complaint of leg numbness. Shortly thereafter she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nervous system. It can diminish the ability of muscles to function which ultimately can lead to serious breathing problems. Still, GBS usually resolves and patients can experience a full recovery once their symptoms have passed.
Pennsylvania Jury Awards $8.5 Million in Medical Malpractice Case
At the conclusion of a recent medical malpractice trial, the jury awarded $8.5 million to an 8 year-old boy who suffered a catastrophic neurological injury while a patient at a pediatric nursing home. The boy was a twin and, while in utero, the two brothers suffered from “twin-twin transfusion syndrome” in which blood passes unevenly between the fetuses while in the placenta. The brother did not survive but the patient in this case pulled through, albeit with negligible neurological deficits.
Administration of Wrong Dosage of Medication Results in Death, $3.3 Medical Malpractice Verdict
A Chicago jury has awarded $3.3 million to the family of a man who died less than two weeks after a pharmacy error resulted in him being administered ten times the appropriate dose of the medication that he was supposed to receive. The patient, who was 55 years old at the time, presented for treatment of an infection that he was suffering from as the result of having received a bone marrow transplant to treat his cancer. As part of the treatment for the infection, doctors ordered him to receive 2,400 milligrams of the antiviral medical known as Foscarnet, a drug usually used with patients who have compromised immune systems.
Delayed Diagnosis Leads to Paralysis, $4.25 Million Verdict
A bench trial in which the judge – and not a jury – decides the case, recently resulted in a $4.25 million verdict to a man whose undiagnosed condition left him paralyzed. The man presented to a local clinic after being injured at work. At that time, healthcare professionals administered a shot, issued him a prescription for pain medication and authorized him to return to work. Shortly thereafter, his pain worsened to the point that he could hardly walk. He went back to the clinic where he was issued another prescription for pain medication and sent back to work.
Brain Injury Yields $3.85 Million Jury Verdict
An Idaho jury has awarded $3.85 million to a married couple after the wife suffered a catastrophic brain injury as the result of alleged improper removal of a catheter from her neck. According to the lawsuit, while in the hospital a nurse improperly removed a central venous catheter line which caused the patient to suffer an air embolism and stroke, resulting in irreversible brain damage.
Federal Jury Awards $9 Million In Medical Malpractice Case
The majority of medical malpractice cases are litigated in the State Court where the malpractice is alleged to have occurred. When the healthcare facility where the malpractice allegedly occurred receives federal funding, the lawsuit usually is filed in Federal Court where it is defended by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. That is what occurred in recent case that resulted in a $9 million award to the surviving family members of a 40 year old mother of six who lost her own life and that of her unborn child at a Chicago hospital.
Over-Prescribed Opiates Results In $17.6 Million Verdict
A Missouri jury has awarded $2.6 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages to a husband and wife after the husband became severely addicted to opioid pain medications. According to the lawsuit, the man had gone to see his primary care physician for back pain and immediately was prescribed highly addictive pain medication. At trial, evidence was presented that the man was prescribed more than 37,000 opioid pain pills – including OxyContin, Vicodin and Oxycodone – between 2008 and 2012 and that the dosages being prescribed were well above the levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Birth Injury Medical Malpractice Case Results In $53 Million Jury Verdict
A Chicago jury has awarded a Cook County record $53 million to a now-12-year-old who suffered a devastating brain injury at birth. The boy’s mother arrived to the hospital approximately 40 weeks in to her pregnancy complaining of decreased fetal movement. The lawsuit alleged that at that time, the hospital failed to, among other things, carefully monitor the mother and unborn child, perform a timely cesarean section, follow a chain of command, obtain accurate cord blood gases and recognize abnormal fetal heart rate patters that should have signaled to the doctors that the baby was in distress and suffering from hypoxia.
Prolonged Coronary Angiogram Results In Leg Amputation, $2.2 Million Verdict
A Kentucky jury has awarded $2.2 million to a married couple after the husband’s pre-operative work-up went awry, resulting in the amputation of his right leg below the knee. In evaluating the man’s candidacy for a total knee replacement, a cardiac work-up showed a possible blockage in his coronary arteries. Accordingly, a coronary angiogram was performed.