Posted on February 02, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

A California couple have won a $16.5 million medical malpractice verdict against a neurosurgeon. The patient suffered a fractured spine while off-roading and was taken to a hospital where the neurosurgeon was on call. Despite the spinal injury, the man was not seen until the next day and not operated on until two days after his injury, cusing paraplegia. The verdict included compensation for future medical care, lost wages and pain and suffering. The couple had previously settled their claims against the hospital for a confidential amount.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases in which we alleged that a doctor or hospital caused paraplegia or quadriplegia. In one case, a man fell and suffered a subluxation (partial displacement) of his spine which needed to be decompressed and realigned so it did not continue to press on the spinal cord. The experienced emergency room doctor recommended immediate decompression but a neurosurgery resident disagreed which resulted in the man waiting hours before the decompression began. During the decompression procedure, he became permanently paralyzed. He lived that way for one year, and then died of complications from the paraplegia. What a sad story.

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 Posted on February 02, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

Recently, a South Carolina jury awarded the family of a newborn $4.4 million dollars for medical malpractice/negligence stemming from the delivery of the child. In their complaint, the family alleged that a nurse failed to properly monitor the baby’s fetal heart monitoring strips — strips that show the heartbeat rate of the baby — and, as a result, did not realize that the baby was in fetal distress and required emergent medical attention and/or delivery. As a result of this negligence, the family alleged that the baby experienced prolonged periods without oxygen while in utero and during the delivery. The baby was delivered alive, but later diagnosed with cerebral-palsy like complications. At the age of 5, the baby died from these complications.

As experienced medical negligence/malpractice attorneys in the Baltimore, Maryland and Washington D.C. area, we have handled numerous cases involving the negligence of doctors, nurses, and other health care providers involved with the delivery of a baby. These health care providers are charged with providing a certain level of care to both the mother and the baby to ensure that both navigate the labor and delivery process safely. In fact, there are many standards and/or regulations published by reputable medical professional societies, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), that govern the care that should be provided to a mother and baby during the pre-natal, labor and delivery phases. The following are examples of medical mistakes and/or errors that have, in the past, led to our office filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in this context:

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 Posted on February 02, 2010 in Personal Injury

Following the drowning death of their three-year-old son in a septic tank, a Montana family recently filed a lawsuit against their local water and sewer district. In 2007, the young boy, while playing in a driveway at a family friend’s home, fell into the tank and drowned. In the lawsuit, the Montana family claimed that local district officials were negligent in two ways: (1) the septic system was placed to close to the driveway; and (2) that the district was negligent in failing to install what is known as a "kid-catcher" safety device at the opening of the tank, a saftey feature that would have prevented their son’s death.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland lawyer, I have successfully handled prior drowning deaths in septic tanks or similar sewage facilities. Because of the well-known hazard that these tanks/facilities pose to small children, there are clear standards and safety features that have been adopted by a variety of professional organizations, standards/features that are designed to prevent these types of tragedies. Unfortunately, due to the large number of these older tanks that remain unmarked and/or unidentified on individuals’ properties, these preventable tragedies continue to this day. If a loved one has been injured or died as a result of a similar tragedy, call the lawyers at STSW for a free consultation.

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 Posted on February 01, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

A Georgia jury has awarded more than $6 million in medical malpractice / wrongful death case on behalf of a husband and his deceased wife’s estate after she developed blood clots and died shortly after undergoing outpatient knee surgery. The woman had knee pain and went to an orthopedic surgeon who ordered an MRI of the knee. That MRI showed something behind the knee which resulted in the the orthopedic surgeon performing outpatient arthroscopic surgery on the woman. The next day, the woman was found dead at home. An autopsy showed that deep venous thromboids had formed at the site of the surgery, and then traveled to the lung causing a pulmonary embolism. Apparently, the orthopedic surgeon ignored several risk factors that should have indicated that blood clotting could be a problem, such as obesity and birth control pills.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a large number of pulmonary embolism malpractice cases. There are clear guidelines from a variety of professional medical organizations, such as the American College of Chest Physicians, which state who should be considered at risk for deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism and what should be done to prevent it. Every patient who is undergoing surgery under anesthesia or who is unable to move around on their own should be evaluated for the risk of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. It is a preventable condition in this day and age. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

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 Posted on February 01, 2010 in Criminal Defense

Of all of the cases that Baltimore Maryland Criminal Attorneys/Lawyers are called upon to handle, some of the most difficult are cases involving repeat offenders in drug distribution cases. In Maryland, if a person who has been previously convicted of a either possession with the intent to distribute a narcotic such as heroin, cocaine or prescription controlled dangerous substances, is again charged, he will likely face a mandatory jail sentence that must be served without the possibility of parole. Some jurisdiction such as Baltimore County, pursue these mandatory sentences in virtually every case. Other jurisdictions such as Baltimore City more often than not use the threat of invoking the mandatory sentence to pressure defendants into plea bargain on terms that prosecutors view as favorable.

In Maryland, in cases where a person is charged with distribution of or possession with intent to distribute narcotics such as cocaine, heroin or prescription drugs, a second offender will be subject to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole. A third offender is subject to a mandatory 25 year sentence without parole and a person with 4 or more convictions faces 40 years. However, in cases involving second offenders, a defendant who is convicted may be eligible for a modification of that sentence if the person is found to be in need of drug treatment by the Department of Health and Mental Hygene and to be sufficiently motivated to take advantage of the opportunity to receive treatment.

For a Maryland Criminal Attorney to put his client in a position to have his mandatory sentence modified, the attorney must file two motions within 90 days of the imposition of the sentence. The first is a motion for modification of sentence. The purpose of this motion is to allow the court to maintain jurisdiction over the case beyond the 90 day period. The second motion is a motion under section 8-505 of the Health General Article.

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 Posted on January 29, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

A New York state jury has awarded a $2.4 million verdict to a woman in a medical malpractice case. The woman underwent partial bowel removal surgery that should not have been performed, causing her to spend 2 ½ months in the hospital and have three more procedures to fix the complications. During the next few months, she was admitted to three hospitals and had to undergo two other surgeries to take care of infections and complications from the first procedure. As a result of her condition, she now is unable to control her bowels, lives with severe pain and has terrible scars. The jury’s verdict consisted of $2.2 million for the woman and $200,000 for her husband. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving the bowels. Some have been negligent bowel injury cases from procedures such as minimally invasive surgery. These injuries frequently cause major complications because the bowel has so much bacteria in it. Other bowel malpractice cases that I have handled have involved the failure to timely diagnose and treat mesenteric ischemia, which is the lack of proper blood supply to the bowel, causing death of the bowel. These are extremely painful and devastating injuries. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

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 Posted on January 29, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

A Kentucky jury has award $4.6 million to a couple in a medical malpractice case. The couple claimed that a urologist performed a negligent medical procedure on the husband causing permanent personal injuries. The verdict included $3,750,000 to the husband for pain and suffering, $117,612 for medical expenses and $750,000 to the wife.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I handle cases like these all of the time in my practice. One involved negligent anesthesia during urological procedures, while another involved the failure to recognize a spinal cord tumor that was causing incontinence. This is an extremely large verdict for such a case. While the newspaper article didn’t identify the particular injury, it must have been severe.

Contact Andrew G. Slutkin with further questions or inquiries at 410-385-2786

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 Posted on January 28, 2010 in Divorce

The short answer is, they do not. Martial property is defined as “the property, however titled, acquired by 1 or both parties during the marriage.” Maryland Code, Family Law § 8-201(3). This includes a marital business acquired by one or both of the parties during the marriage. For more information on marital property division during a divorce proceeding see our Marital Property Blog from August 19, 2009 . Many times the issue of how to solve the ‘division’ of a martial business in a divorce proceeding is a complicated one due to stock ownership, the value of the business, and consideration of employees of the business.

In accordance with Maryland Code, Family Law § 8-202 (b) when the court determines the ownership of personal or real property, the court may: (1) grant a decree that states what the ownership interest of each party is; and (2) as to any property owned by both of the parties, order a partition or a sale instead of partition and a division of the proceeds. A business is not real or personal property and due to how the stock of the company is held, a sale of the business may not always be a viable option. In the recent case of Turner v. Turner, 147 Md. App. 350 (2002) the Court of Special Appeals found that they could not order sale of the marital business or partition (divide) the marital business, awarding wife 50% of the business, because the husband owned 87% of the shares of stock in the company and Wife owned the remaining shares. The court does not have the authority to re-title stock and does not have the authority to sell it. Therefore in Turner, the court awarded the wife a larger percentage of the parties total value of marital property (a monetary award). What this means is that when a marital business is an issue and stock is held by both husband and wife, but titled individually, in addition to divorce proceedings, an action to dissolve the corporation may also be necessary if parties are unable or unwilling to continue to work/ run the business together.

I recently settled a case, where the husband and wife started a business during the marriage and each party owned 50% of the stock individually. So while the business itself was marital and the individually held stock was also martial, the court would not have been able to sell the business though the divorce proceedings, unless agreed upon by the parties. Ultimately, my client bought out the other spouses interest, after months and months of negotiation. However, in the event a resolution had not been reached, the parties would have had to puruse a corporate dissolution proceeding with respect to the business. If you chose to start a business with your spouse, a simple way to avoid the pitfalls above is to title each share of stock jointly. By titling it to both parties, the Court, through the divorce proceeding, will have the authority to sell the asset.

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 Posted on January 26, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

An Alabama jury has awarded $20 million in a medical malpractice case in which a woman died after receiving negligent anesthesia care. The woman, a wife and mother of two, died in 2006 after receiving anesthesia during exploratory surgery. The woman, who had been suffering from severe abdominal pain, aspirated bile from her stomach into her lungs, causing aspiration pneumonia. The family claimed that the defendant doctors did not examine the woman’s abdomen or look at her medical records before the exploratory surgery, which would have revealed her risk factors for breathing fluid into her lungs.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases, including some involving the negligent administration of anesthesia. In one case, a woman died from improper monitoring during anesthesia. In another case, a patient died of aspiration pneumonia during the days after surgery. These are tragic cases. They can easily be prevented with just even the minimum care and attention. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

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 Posted on January 26, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

The New York Times published a detailed article this past weekend on radiation overdose malpractice in New York hospitals. The article reports a number of shocking instances of people who have been given too much radiation during treatment for various cancers. Many of them have suffered terrible health complications from this malpractice, including gaping wounds, loss of hearing, sight, the ability to heal, walk and otherwise function. A copy of the article can be found here.

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