Posted on June 11, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

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."

The charges stem from an investigation by St. Joseph Medical Center, which began after a St. Joe employee claimed that Dr. Midei was fraudulently implanting patients with cardiac stents. St. Joe’s investigation, which examined only a two year time frame during which Dr. Midei performed 2000 stent procedures, found that approximately one in four cardiac stents that he emplaced (over 500 patients) were unnecessary.

In my opinion, the charges are certain to be sustained in this high-profile instance of medical malpractice. It is one thing for a patient or a patient’s lawyers to accuse a doctor of malpractice, but when Dr. Midei’s former employer and peers on the medical board accuse him of widespread malpractice, common sense dictates that it has merit.

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 Posted on June 10, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

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.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice cases against emergency room doctors for failing to timely diagnose and treat life threatening conditions. The rule is "if there is any doubt, you can’t rule it out." Here, a simple radiology test, such as an x-ray or esophageal sonogram would have showed what was going on with this man. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

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 Posted on June 02, 2010 in Criminal Defense

Maryland Criminal Attorney reviews Miranda decision by Supreme Court. In its recent decision in Berghuis v. Thompkins the Supreme Court, in what some view as a paradoxical ruling, ruled that a defendant must affirmatively invoke his right to remain silent or his right to an attorney after being advised of his Miranda Rights. In other words, the Court ruled that a defendant must speak in order to invoke his right not to speak.

In this case, Thomkins was arrested for murder. He was taken into custody and read the Miranda Rights that are familiar to most all of us who have ever seen an episode of Law and Order. After being advised of his right to remain silent, Thomkins did just that; he remained silent throughout almost 3 hours of questioning by the detective. The detective finally broke Thomkins’ silence by asking him if he prayed to God to which he replied that he did. The Detective then asked him if he prayed to God for forgiveness for shooting the victim in this case and Thompkins answered in the affirmative.

The statement was introduced against Thomkins at trial over his counsel’s objection and he was convicted of murder. In yet another 5-4 ruling by the Roberts Court, the Conservative wing of the court upheld the conviction and ruled that a defendant must affirmatively invoke the right to remain silent. Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote the dissent and noted that " Criminal Suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent – which counter-intuitively requires them to speak". She went on to note that this ruling inescapably leads to the conclusion that a "suspect will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so’.

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 Posted on May 27, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

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.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a number of cerebral palsy and other birth injury medical malpractice cases. These cases are always tragic as they permanently affect the life of a child and his or her family. Often times, these tragedies can be prevented with proper care that meets the standard of care.

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 Posted on May 26, 2010 in Appeals - State & Federal

Today in the case of State v. Campbell, Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin and White’s criminal appeals lawyers convinced the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to reverse a Circuit Court for Baltimore County Judge thereby winning the freedom of a client serving a ten year sentence-without parole. The firm did not represent the client at the trial, but after the bad result, was retained to handle the appeal.

The Facts:

Baltimore County police see a drug transaction conducted from a Lincoln navigator. The police stop the buyer who says he bought drugs from the vehicle. The police lose sight of the vehicle. Four hours later, the police stop the car with guns drawn. The defense argued there was no probable cause to stop the vehicle four hours later because the police had no description of the sellers of narcotics four hours before. Judge Dana Levitz of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County said there was probable cause and sentenced the defendant to ten years without parole.

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 Posted on May 26, 2010 in Appeals - State & Federal

Today, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals vacated a murder conviction because defendant’s right to counsel violated.

Facts:

The victim was stabbed in Hagerstown Maryland. Based on a review of images captured by security cameras, Adams was a suspect. Adams fled the scene but was picked up on a parole violation in Baltimore. He was brought back to Hagerstown for questioning. He was advised of his rights per Miranda, executed a waiver and made inculpatory statements. Adams was then charged with first degree murder and counsel entered his appearance. Months later, the prosecutor asked the detective to serve on Adams the notice seeking life without parole. The detective went to the detention center. Criminal defense counsel was not present. After seeing the notice, Adams said “why is the state going after me so hard?” The detective said “because you stabbed a guy 32 times.” Adams responded that he only stabbed the guy seven times and then went into detail about where he stabbed him. Defense counsel moved to suppress the statements. The trial court denied his motion.

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 Posted on May 24, 2010 in Criminal Defense

As a Baltimore Maryland Criminal Defense Attorney, I routinely handle matters charged in the juvenile courts of Baltimore County, Baltimore City and throughout the metropolitan area. Last week the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in Graham v, Florida, in what amounted to the most significant case concerning juvenile sentencing since it ruled that juvenile offenders could not face capital punishment.

In Graham, the Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that juvenile offenders could not face a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for crimes other than murder. The 6-3 spread is a little deceiving as Chief Justice Roberts agreed with the result in the Graham case but did not concur with the blanket prohibition on life without parole sentence adopted by the majority. Instead, Roberts opined that the sentences should be looked at on a "case by case" basis. Here are the facts of the Graham case:

In 2003 when Graham was sixteen years old, he was convicted of armed robbery for his participation in a robbery of a restaurant. In Florida, the maximum penalty for armed robbery is life without the possibility of parole. However, Graham’s attorney was able to successfully negotiate a plea bargain in which Graham was place on supervised probation. While on probation, Graham was involved in a home invasion robbery. This charge resulted in a violation of probation on the original armed robbery charge. Once he was found in violation of his probation, the court entered the maximum sentence allowed by law of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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 Posted on May 20, 2010 in Criminal Defense

As a Baltimore Maryland Criminal Attorney I am often confronted with cases in which the Baltimore City Police (and occasionally police from other jurisdictions) take a simple misdemeanor case and charge it as a major felony. I have blogged about overcharging by the Baltimore City Police in the past and unfortunately it seems to be happening more and more frequently. Although these cases are typically reduced by State’s Attorney’s Office at the preliminary hearing, the fact that the police originally charged the case as a felony can result in major negative implications for the person charged.

First of all, the fact that the case was overcharged will almost invariably result in a much higher bail than would have otherwise been set had the case been properly charged as a misdemeanor. The increased bail amount will at best cost the defendant additional money to secure bail and at worst, cause the person to have to remain in jail until the case is set in for the preliminary hearing or even until the trial which could be months in the future. Also, the expungement statute precludes a person from having any count in a charging document expunged if the person is eventually convicted of any count. With criminal records so readily available these days on the Internet, having felony charges on one’s record, even if they are eventually dismissed, can cause serious problems for people in a variety of areas including employment, especially in today’s job market. I recently represented a person who was charged with attempted first degree murder for what was nothing more than a misdemeanor second degree assault. As in most cases, the overcharging of the case caused severe repercussions for the client. Here are the facts of the case:

My client is a 35 year old Baltimore native with no prior criminal record. He is a college graduate and runs his own business employing approximately 25 people. He went out to dinner with his girlfriend and another couple one night last month. After dinner they went to a bar to have drinks. As they were walking through the crowd at this bar, my client’s girlfriend was touched in a sexual manner by another patron. My client confronted the other patron who took an aggressive posture with my client and attempted to strike him. My client then shoved him to the ground and left the bar.

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 Posted on May 20, 2010 in Criminal Defense

https://www.silvermanthompson.com/lawyer-attorney-1300820.html As Baltimore Maryland Criminal Attorneys, we are often called upon to defend college students and other young people who are charged with what is commonly termed "date rape" allegations. These allegations invariably involve young women who are highly intoxicated on drugs or alcohol engaging in sexual activity that they later allege was non-consensual. The vast majority of these cases involve situations wherein the young woman involved became voluntarily intoxicated but we have seen several cases in which the so called "date rape drug" was found to be in the alleged victim’s system.

We have successfully defended a large number of these cases many of which having occurred on or around one of the numerous college campuses in the area. We recently defended an individual in just such as case and were able to have all charges against him dismissed prior to trial. This particular individual did not retain us until after he was charged which was a mistake on his part as we have successfully prevented many similarly situated individuals from ever being charged. Here are the facts of the case:

Our client was a 21 year old college student who was attending one of the local Universities. (I am going to leave out or change some minor details to protect both the client and the young women involved in this situation). One evening about 18 months ago he attended an off campus party at the apartment of a friend. Not surprisingly, alcohol was served at this party in large amounts. My client and most of the other party goers drank excessively and became intoxicated.

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 Posted on May 19, 2010 in Medical Malpractice

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.

The patient had a small skull based tumor that was threatening his hearing, and went to a doctor to remove the tumor. According to the lawsuit, the doctor removed something but it was not the tumor. The hospital’s pathology report supposedly showed that what was surgically removed was not a tumor. But instead of telling the patient, the lawsuit alleged that the doctor and/or others altered the report to hide from the patient the fact that the tumor actually was not removed. The patient subsequently lost his hearing and filed suit. A copy of an article on the case can be found here.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. attorney who handles many medical malpractice and other catastrophic injury cases, I have successfully handled many cases involving important medical records. Clients of mine frequently ask whether there is any way to tell whether medical records have been improperly altered. I always explain that there are ways, such as comparing them to other records, comparing them to records which have been sent to others, and forensic document examination. At times, I have had medical records evaluated by forensic document examiners who can tell, using ink dating analysis or examination under special lighting, that documents have been altered. Computer systems even keep track of alterations of computerized medical records systems. Usually, when I can prove that a medical record was improperly altered, the case settles. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

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