Maryland Malpractice Lawyer Explains . . .
Maryland Malpractice Law comes into play when a doctor, nurse or other health care provider makes a mistake that causes injuries. Unfortunately, medical mistakes are common in the United States. In 2000, the Institute of Medicine reported that up to 98,000 die each year in American hospitals due to medical mistakes. That's 268 people a day! Medical mistakes are the 8th leading cause of death in our country. Preventable medical mistakes cause more deaths each year than AIDS, breast cancer or auto accidents. And hundreds of thousands more are injured or disabled each year because of medical mistakes. In fact, a recent study of physicians conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health showed that fully 35 percent of the doctors said that either they or members of their families had experienced medical errors in the course of being treated and most said that the errors had "serious health consequences," such as death, long-term disability or severe pain. In addition, 3 in every 10 of the doctors who participated in the study had seen an error that caused serious harm to patients outside their families in the past year.
What exactly is medical malpractice and what are the key elements of Maryland Malpractice Law?
nurse or other health care provider improperly treats a patient and causes injury. In Maryland Malpractice Law, Medical malpractice is what we call it when a doctor or other health care provider does not use that degree of care of skill which a reasonably competent health care provider, engaged in a similar practice and acting in similar circumstances, would use. In other words, a patient is entitled to competent medical care. S/he is not entitled to extraordinary skill, but s/he is entitled to the degree of skill that an average health care provider would provide. When s/he does not get it, malpractice has occurred. Doctors must comply with the appropriate "standard of care." Standard of care means what a competent health care provider should do in a particular circumstance. For example, a competent surgeon should remove all sponges from the patient before closing at the end of surgery. If the surgeon does not do so, s/he has deviated from the standard of care and committed malpractice. Some errors are obviously malpractice. For example, if a surgeon operates on the wrong leg. Yes, it has happened. Most questions of whether malpractice has occurred under Maryland Malpractice Law are more complicated and require expert opinion to determine. For that reason, you should promptly consult a Maryland malpractice lawyer if you think that you may have a malpractice claim.
"... I appreciated the personal service that you gave me in my serious personal injury case. I never had to guess about what was going on. You reported to me regularly and always sent me copies of things that were sent or received concerning my case. And when I did have a question, I could always get in touch with you... "* Jeffrey James can result in malpractice? These are some of the most common circumstances in which malpractice can occur under Maryland Malpractice Law . . . ** Surgery errors. ** Birth injury. ** Failure to diagnose or treat cancer. ** Failure to diagnose or treat heart disease. ** Failure to diagnose or treat infection. ** Other misdiagnosis. When these occur and result in injuries, there has been malpractice. Maryland malpractice lawyers are trained to help you determine if malpractice has occurred.
A bad outcome, by itself, is not proof of malpractice under Maryland Malpractice Law. A physician can provide competent care but have a bad outcome anyway. That is NOT malpractice. Malpractice is when the physician failed to comply with the standard of care. The defense may also argue that the patient was contributorily negligent or failed to mitigate damages by, for example, not following the physician's instructions and that the patient's failure -- not a physician error -- caused the bad result. Another common defense is that something other than the doctor's negligence caused the problem. For example, you may confront the argument that the bad outcome is a result of something else such as the normal aging process. A Maryland malpractice lawyer can help you determine whether any of these defenses are legitimate. If they are, you want to determine that as soon as possible.
"We became acquainted with Mr. Santa Maria via an ad in our local phone book and consider ourselves fortunate to have met him. Before contacting him, we had talked to other lawyers about our case and became disillusioned with our situation... One lawyer said we should accept whatever the insurance adjuster offered without further ado and another said we had a very poor chance of getting what we thought would be a fair settlement. ...we felt that surely there must be someone who understood how we felt and could help us. Phil proved to be that someone and much more. With his concern and understanding, keen insight and experience, we came away with what we feel was a fair settlement and felt much better about the whole incident."* AJ and Evelyn Walters
Under Maryland Malpractice Law, you have a malpractice case -- literally -- when an expert says that you have a case. When you file your case, Maryland Malpractice Law requires you to include a Certificate of Merit which is a statement by an expert in the same specialty as the case involves stating that the defendant deviated from the standard of care. Without that Certificate, your case will be dismissed. So, proof of malpractice involves the use of an expert, and usually several experts. Here, again, a Maryland malpractice lawyer will identify and work with the necessary experts to prove your case.
"Damages" is the term that refers to the consequences of the malpractice. In Maryland Malpractice Law, as well as in other kinds of injury claims, damages include both economic losses and noneconomic losses. The economic losses that you can recover include. . . ** reimbursement for all of your medical bills for treating injuries that result from the malpractice. ** reimbursement for any loss of employment income. ** any other economic losses that result from the malpractice. If Maryland Malpractice Law merely required the health care provider to pay for your financial losses, you would not be fairly and sufficiently compensated. The economic losses are not what you will remember years later about this experience. What you will remember more is the pain of your injuries, the mental uncertainty, the sleepless nights, your feelings about having disfiguring scars (or whatever your symptoms were) and the disruption to your life that the malpractice caused. Because you did nothing to cause these losses, fundamental fairness -- and Maryland Malpractice Law -- require the health care provider to compensate you in money damages for such noneconomic losses as. . . ** physical pain, ** mental anguish, ** disfigurement (such as surgical scars), ** inconvenience, ** physical impairment, ** damage to your marital relationship. Maryland malpractice lawyers are trained to identify all of the elements of your damages and to gather the necessary proof of those damages.
"Although the circumstances of my accident were unusual, your expert advice, patience and superb negotiating skills allowed my case to be settled out of court for ...an amount that far exceeded our initial expectations. I am deeply appreciative of your representation..."* Elizabeth Augustine
How much compensation you are entitled to receive for your injuries under Maryland Malpractice Law depends on the circumstances of your case. Obviously, that determination will depend on such things as . . . ** how seriously you are injured, ** how long you suffer with your injuries and ** whether you recover fully from them. Significant permanent consequences of a malpractice require substantial compensation. That's just common sense How do you prove future consequences, such as future medical bills and future loss of income? You probably guessed . . . expert witnesses. Physicians document the future physical limitations of the patient, there may be a vocational rehabilitation expert to testify about the patient's vocational limitations, perhaps a life care planner will testify about the patient's other needs and an economist converts all of this into dollars and cents. Where there are serious, permanent injuries, fair compensation under Maryland Malpractice Law can easily be $1,000,000.00 or more. With this much at stake, hiring an experienced Maryland malpractice lawyer is the only approach that makes sense.
Some injury cases are well-suited for a do-it-yourself approach. Medical malpractice cases are not. No matter how obvious the malpractice, the defense will have experts who will defend the actions of the health care provider. On the other hand, you may have difficulty locating an expert, even if your claim is meritorious. Physicians are putting increasing pressure on their brethren who testify for injured plaintiffs. The defense has almost unlimited funds to spend to defeat your claim. Statistics show that somewhere between 2 out of 3 and 3 out of 4 cases that go to trial are won by the defense. Confronted with these realities, you should never consider presenting a malpractice case yourself. Instead, you should consult with an experienced Maryland malpractice lawyer. To learn more about Maryland Malpractice Law and Maryland malpractice lawyers, contact us.
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