Baltimore Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Maryland Court Addresses Expert Witness Issue in Medical Malpractice Case

Published on: May 10, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

Under Maryland law, every medical malpractice case requires testimony from an expert witness. In fact, Rule 5-702 denotes that expert testimony may be admitted if the court decides that the testimony will help the trier of fact (either the judge or jury) understand the evidence or determine a fact at issue in the case. The expert witness in a medical malpractice case is typically a professional in the same specialty as the defendant. For example, if the defendant is an obstetrician, the expert witness will likely be an obstetrician.

In a recent case, a Maryland appeals court considered the issue of expert witnesses. In that case, the plaintiff brought a medical malpractice claim against her doctor for failing to obtain informed consent. Informed consent is the process through which a medical professional discloses appropriate information to a patient so that the patient knows the material risks and benefits associated with a particular course of treatment and can make an informed decision about whether or not to proceed.

In the case at hand, the defendant was the plaintiff’s obstetrician throughout two of her pregnancies in the early 2000s. The plaintiff’s first child was a healthy newborn with no sign of harm to the newborn’s shoulder. However, the child’s chart revealed conflicting information about whether the child had suffered shoulder dystocia. A past shoulder dystocia can increase the likelihood of dystocia in the next child, but this prospect was not taken into account for the plaintiff’s second pregnancy. During the second birth, the plaintiff’s baby suffered shoulder dystocia, which led to a serious and permanent birth injury.

Lasik Eye Surgery Malpractice

Published on: May 5, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

Lasik eye surgery has become increasingly popular over the years to help correct people’s vision and free them from the confines of glasses or corrective lenses. While the procedure is relatively safe, there are times when the procedure does not deliver the intended result. If you or someone close to you has experienced vision problems or an eye injury due to laser eye surgery, you should reach out to a skilled Baltimore medical malpractice attorney who can review the facts of your case.

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, about 600,000 Lasik procedures are performed each year in the United States. The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery reports that Lasik eye surgery has an extremely high success rate, with 96 percent of patients achieving 20/20 vision or better.

Lasik eye surgery, also known as refractive eye surgery, is the term used to describe surgical procedures that correct common vision problems, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia. The surgery corrects an individual’s vision through a laser reshaping the inner cornea. Specifically, the doctor makes an incision in the cornea so that the small flap of the clear tissue of the eye can be lifted up. Once this happens, the laser beam reshapes the corneal tissue under the flap. If done properly, the cornea should heal, and the patient should no longer need eyeglasses or corrective lenses.

Gastric Bypass Surgery Injuries in Maryland

Published on: April 27, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

Elective weight loss surgeries, such as gastric bypass surgery, have been commonplace in Maryland and across the United States. If you or someone close to you suffered a serious injury or even death as a result of gastric bypass surgery, you should speak to a skilled Baltimore medical malpractice attorney who can evaluate the facts of your case. We can scrutinize what happened to determine if malpractice took place.

Gastric bypass surgery is a surgical procedure that helps you lose weight by changing how your stomach and intestine handle the food that you eat. The procedure typically involves creating a small stomach and removing the rest of the stomach. The small intestine is then attached to the new stomach, allowing the lower part of the stomach to be bypassed. The surgery is intended to make your stomach smaller, so you end up absorbing fewer minerals and feeling full sooner. This helps patients eat less, lose weight, and experience an improvement in their overall health.

Bowel Perforation Injuries in Maryland

Published on: April 20, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

When you undergo surgery, you put your trust in the hands of the surgeon and other medical professionals who will be completing the procedure. While every surgery carries some inherent risk, patients are often injured due to a physician’s error. If you or a loved one has suffered from a bowel perforation after surgery, it is important to reach out to a seasoned Baltimore medical malpractice attorney who can evaluate the facts of your case. We can seek answers as to what happened to you and help you determine your next steps.

A bowel or gastrointestinal perforation, also known as a ruptured bowel, is when the bowel is punctured in some way. The GI tract includes the bowel, intestines, and colon. A bowel perforation creates a leak in the gastrointestinal tract that spreads food, fecal matter, and other bacteria into the area, which can lead to serious infections such as peritonitis, a blood poisoning infection known as sepsis, internal bleeding, or even death. Physicians should carefully inspect the bowel before finishing surgery. In fact, it is critical to the patient’s well being that his or her doctor identify and treat any injury to the bowel in a timely manner before it gets any worse.

Failure to Recognize Heart Attack in Maryland

Published on: April 12, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

When you go to see a doctor, you trust that you will receive reliable and competent care. The sad reality is that this is not always the case. Doctors often make mistakes that have serious consequences for a patient’s health. If you or someone close to you was harmed by a doctor’s failure to recognize a heart attack, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim against that doctor. At Arfaa Law Group, we can meticulously evaluate the facts of your case and determine your legal options.

Unfortunately, heart attacks are very common in Maryland and throughout the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every 43 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack. Each year, approximately 735,000 Americans have a heart attack – about 525,000 are a first heart attack, while 210,000 happen to people who have already had a first attack. The American Heart Association reports that heart disease is the number one killer in Maryland.

When a patient complains about chest pains, coupled with shortness of breath or pain in the arm, a medical professional should immediately investigate for a potential heart attack. Doctors and other medical professionals are highly trained to recognize the signs of a heart attack. A patient who presents the symptoms of a heart attack should be carefully evaluated before being released from the hospital. If a doctor fails to recognize a heart attack, a patient can suffer serious consequences, including death. Put simply, a timely diagnosis may be able to prevent irreversible heart damage.

Radiation Errors in Maryland

Published on: April 5, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

Patients who are undergoing radiation should be carefully and closely monitored to make sure they do not suffer any harm. When a medical professional makes an error while using radiation to treat cancer, the patient can be seriously injured or even killed. If you or someone close to you has suffered a radiation error, it is important to speak to an experienced Baltimore medical malpractice attorney. At Arfaa Law Group, we understand the nuances of malpractice law and can help determine a course of action for your claim.

Radiation undoubtedly saves countless lives, but too much radiation can be lethal. Radiation therapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer and involves using high-energy radiation to kill or damage cancer cells. The problem with excessive radiation is that it can damage the normal, healthy cells in a patient’s body. Radiation injuries can be very difficult to treat. In fact, many times, patients just have to deal with the injury because recovery is not possible.

Radiation errors can happen in a number of ways, including physician or hospital staff errors due to staff shortages or inattentiveness, machine malfunctions, erroneous prescriptions for radiation therapy, improper inspection of equipment, and radiation beams being positioned incorrectly that end up treating the wrong part of the body.

Court Deems Slip and Fall in Doctor’s Office a Medical Malpractice Incident

Published on: March 28, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

A West Virginia court recently issued an opinion highlighting one of the challenges that plaintiffs may face when their injuries took place at a hospital or doctor’s office. In this case, the issue was whether a patient’s slip and fall claim should have been classified as a premises liability claim or a medical malpractice claim. The court eventually decided that since the injury took place when the patient was receiving “health care related” services, the case should be deemed a medical malpractice claim.

The facts of the case are as follows. A woman took her husband to an urgent care facility, where a staff member directed them to a private examination room. The staff member told the patient to sit on the examination table and wait for the physician to arrive. As the man tried to get onto the table, he fell. Not long after the incident, the man died as a result of complications from the fall.

The man’s wife filed a premises liability claim against the urgent care facility. Premises liability is a legal doctrine that generally comes into play in personal injury cases in which an injury is caused by some type of unsafe or defective condition on someone’s property. The urgent care facility responded, stating that the lawsuit should have been filed under the state’s medical malpractice statute because it was “related” to the provision of health care services. The court agreed.

Burn Injury Malpractice in Maryland

Published on: March 23, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

Burn injuries can cause serious skin damage. The severity of a burn injury will depend on the intensity of the heat and the length of exposure. When you go to a hospital or outpatient facility to be treated for a burn injury, you expect the healthcare providers to make the condition better, not worse. Unfortunately, in some cases, healthcare providers choose treatments that exacerbate the situation. If this has happened to you, it is important to reach out to a skilled Baltimore medical malpractice attorney who can help.

A burn injury may be caused by heat, chemicals, radiation and/or electricity. Every year, over 2 million burn injuries are reported across the United States. According to the National Institute of Health, approximately 40 percent of all burn victims sustain serious and/or permanent disabilities from their injuries. The American Burn Association reports that in 2016, there were 40,000 hospitalizations related to burn injuries, including 30,000 at hospital burn centers.

The first step to treating any burn injury is to identify the source of the burn because different types of burns may present differently and may require different types of care. Examining the source of the burn also helps the healthcare provider classify the degree of the burn properly.

IV Errors in Maryland

Published on: March 15, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

While administering an IV is a routine procedure in most hospitals and clinics, it can also be dangerous. Every year, IV errors injure a number of patients in Maryland and throughout the United States. These errors can have serious and even life-threatening consequences for a patient. If you or someone close to you has been the victim of an IV error, you may be entitled to compensation. At The Arfaa Law Group, our seasoned Baltimore medical negligence team will analyze the facts of your case and help you understand your legal options. You can rest assured that we will advocate for you every step of the way.

Intravenous (IV) therapy involves infusing liquid (i.e., blood or medication) directly into a vein. IV errors can take place in a number of ways including, but not limited to:

Errors in preparing the IV medication;
Errors in administrating the IV medication;
Incompatible combination of drugs;
Improperly injecting medication;
Administering the IV at the wrong time;
Overdose or wrong dose of the drug;
Technical errors with IV valves and pumps.

Premature Discharge from the Hospital Could be Malpractice

Published on: March 7, 2017 | by Arfaa Law Group

When a patient is in the hospital for any reason, medical professionals should only release that patient when it is safe to do so. When patients are released too soon, it is known as premature discharge. Premature discharge puts patients at risk for health issues that could have been managed at a hospital but cannot be managed at home. If you or someone close to you has suffered an injury due to premature discharge from the hospital, you should reach out to a reputable Baltimore medical malpractice attorney who can help.

There are many reasons a hospital may discharge a patient early. For instance, the hospital may be overcrowded, and there may be a concern about the number of beds or staff available. The hospital may also be extremely busy, and medical professionals may be in a rush to conclude cases. Sometimes, patients are prematurely released due to a medical professional’s error in judgment in not appreciating the risks of sending the patient home.

If you suffered harm as a result of premature discharge, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim against the medical professional and even the hospital. In Maryland, medical malpractice occurs when a health care provider causes injuries or death by failing to use the level of care that another health care provider in the same specialty would have used under the same or similar circumstances. In the context of premature discharge cases, the judge will consider if a qualified medical professional would have discharged the patient under the same circumstances. If the answer is no, the next question will be whether the patient’s injury was a direct result of the premature discharge. If the answer is yes, the patient will likely be able to obtain compensation through a lawsuit.