Maryland Injury Law Center

June 27, 2017

Arm Nerve Damage Jury Awards

Jury Verdict Research found that the median jury verdict in arm nerve damage cases over the last 10 years was $81,095. Arm nerve damage is defined by the study as injuries to the median nerve, radial nerve, ulnar nerve, musculocutaneous nerve, and axillary nerve which are all branches of the brachial plexus. Carpal tunnel injuries were, however, specifically excluded from this study. Why? The vast majority of carpal tunnel injury cases are not the result of medical malpractice or a motor vehicle accident. Before you get outraged, it is absolutely true that people get CPS all of the time from tensing up and gripping the steering wheel before a crash. It is just that most of these injuries are not caused by car accidents. arm nerve damage cases JVR provides more median verdicts for arm injuries:

Arm amputations: $3,500,000 (75% of verdicts over $1,000,000)
Arm and Elbow Nonfractures, Arm Nerve Damage and Arm Amputations: $61,863 (13% of awards over $1 million).

June 21, 2017

Pointing to the Empty Chair | Maryland High Court Malpractice Opinion

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

More often than not, a jury trial in a wrongful death or severe injury case is about assigning blame. Jurors want someone to blame for the harm that was caused. Usually, this is either the plaintiff or the defendant. In medical malpractice cases, jurors may also point to bad luck as the cause.

For defense lawyers, one of the best targets for responsibility is an empty chair, either a dismissed or unnamed defendant. This is a more substantive target than mere bad luck and it allows the jury to meet its perceived obligation of assigning clear responsibility. It is also just helpful to point the blame to someone who is not in the room to defend themselves. In Copsey v. Park, the Maryland high court addressed the question of whether the defendant could point to the empty chair of doctors who had already settled before trial.

Facts of Copsey

June 9, 2017

How Much Can You Sue for in a Wrongful Death in Maryland Lawsuit?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

If you are considering bringing a wrongful death lawsuit, one question may have is what is the most you can sue for in a wrongful death case?

The better question is how much money can a jury award you. Because in a wrongful death case in Maryland, you no longer ask for a specific amount of money in the Complaint. Assuming the plaintiff’s lawyer understands Maryland law, the days of the Baltimore Sun publishing a story about a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit are over. Today, we do not sue for a specific amount, but we ask for what a judge or jury deems just.

A wrongful death claim is a statutory cause of action governed by the specific rules of Maryland law. It bears repeating that actions for wrongful death in Maryland must be commenced within three years of the death of the injured person. To date, the Maryland General Assembly has only enacted exceptions for deaths caused by occupational disease and criminal homicide.

May 10, 2017

New Case Before Court: Is This an Allegation of Malpractice?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Maryland Court of Appeals granted cert in five cases yesterday. One of the cases, Davis v. Frostburg Facility Operations, is of interest to Maryland medical malpractice lawyers because it addresses the question of what constitutes an allegation of medical malpractice that invokes the Maryland Health Claims Act.

Facts

Davis is a nursing home type case. According to the Complaint, the Plaintiff was admitted to Frostburg Village, a nursing rehabilitation center in Allegany County, following back surgery. Two days later, Plaintiff’s mattress came loose from her bed and “slid off the bed frame, causing Ms. Davis to fall to the floor.” The facility used a mechanical lift to put the woman back in bed because Frostburg is a no lift facility. The nurse allegedly used the lift improperly — releasing the net holding the patient too soon — and dropped her on the floor.

May 8, 2017

New Law: Breach of Contract in Maryland Medical Malpractice Cases

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Last week, in Henneberry v. Pharoan, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals looked at whether there can be a breach of contract lawsuit that runs concurrently with a medical malpractice claim. The case clarifies Maryland law on when a breach of contract claim might jibe with a medical malpractice claim.

The Facts

The gist of the plaintiff’s complaint is that the doctor failed to completely resect the entire appendix, which necessitated another surgery. While undoubtedly a traumatic event for the plaintiff, this is not a serious case by medical malpractice standards. We have been making it a point to follow every malpractice case that gets filed in Maryland. This is the bottom 10% of medical malpractice lawsuits in Maryland regarding the severity of injury (of non-dental malpractice claims).

February 2, 2017

Sepsis Misdiagnosis Wrongful Death Cases in Maryland

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Sepsis is a silent killer that should be diagnosed and treated with the same urgency as a heart attack. But it is not treated with urgency, making it is the one reason why so many medical malpractice lawsuits in Maryland involve either missed sepsis diagnosis or a failure to adequately treat this infection. Sepsis is a catastrophic health problem responsible for over 250,000 deaths per year in this country. There are over 20,000 cases of sepsis in Maryland hospitals every year. Do you think Donald Trump’s wall is too expensive? We spend more $20 billion dollars on the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis. It is the most expensive condition treated in hospitals and a lot of that cost is care rendered after a doctor makes a mistake. Continue reading

January 30, 2017

Nursing Home Bed Sore Cases in Maryland | Attention Referring Lawyers

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

If you are a lawyer with a nursing home bed sore client in Maryland, I want you to refer your case to Miller & Zois (with an attorneys’ fee-sharing relationship). This post is directed to lawyers who rarely handle bed sore care to better understand the pros and cons of bed sore nursing home claims in Maryland and what types of claims are the most viable.

Why Bed Sore Cases Are Good Cases

Nursing home cases are medical malpractice cases in Maryland. You have to file in Maryland Health Claims Arbitration and follow the malpractice statute. But bedsore cases are the exact opposite of medical malpractice cases. In a malpractice case against a doctor, the presumption the patient or the patient’s family must overcome is that the doctor is competent and did her very best. You start behind the eight-ball and need to present overwhelming facts to win. It is hard to win jump ball medical malpractice cases even in victim-friendly jurisdictions.

August 5, 2016

Miller & Zois Helps Create New Nursing Home Law in Maryland

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Our primary focus at Miller & Zois is to further the interest of our clients by maximizing the value of their injury or wrongful death claims. But it is also an absolute joy when we can be a part of changing Maryland law that helps all injury victims get a fair shake in their claim. We did this last week when the Maryland Court of Special Appeals gave a victory for our client and justice in Peeler v. FutureCare Northpoint, a wrongful death nursing home case.

Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements

At stake in Peeler v. FutureCare Northpoint was the breath of an agreement to arbitrate any claims that arise between a resident and a nursing home. Our client’s mother in Peeler entered a nursing home after she had a femoral-femoral bypass graft at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She was asked upon arrival to sign an arbitration agreement. Clearly, this was not a moment of great clarity, right? This is not uncommon. Most decisions you make when entering a nursing home are made in crisis mode resulting from a precipitous decline in health. So amid this emotional powder keg, the incoming resident or their family must sign a million documents. There is no time to plan or weigh options. I’m a lawyer. There is no way I’m reading all of those documents in that situation. I’m not feeling free to negotiate with the nursing home. I’m in the most unequal bargaining position imaginable. I just want — or I wanted my loved one to get — the needed care to get through the days ahead.

July 20, 2016

Social Host Drunk Driving in Maryland | New Law

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

I’ve complained to you (all 14 of you) for years about Maryland’s ridiculous refusal to adopt dram shop laws to allow lawsuits against bars and restaurants who knowingly serve drunk people who then go out and hurt of kill someone. A divided Court of Appeals says the Legislature should take the first step. The legislature bows to the National Resturant Association lobbyists because there is no dead kids lobbying group that contributes money to Maryland General Assembly elections (except for MADD which does an outstanding job with few resources).

The court took a baby step in the right direction this month when it issued an opinion in two cases involving underage drinking that creates a path for victims and their families to bring civil lawsuits against adults who serve children alcohol.

This is a big step forward. The Maryland Court of Appeals has previously found that social host liability is a near relative of a Dram Shop liability. So it is not hard to imagine the court extending the reasoning of these cases as a logical move towards dram shop laws. It is also noteworthy that Judge Sally D. Adkins wrote the opinion. Judge Adkins wrote an amazing dissent in the last big dram shop case that came before the court, arguing that the law had to be changed because too many Marylanders were unnecessarily dying because drunk people are being over-served in our bars and our restaurants. It could just be me, but I think this is a sign that Judge Adkins’ thinking will soon carry the day.

June 20, 2016

Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawsuits 2016

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Here is an interesting look at the first 20 medical malpractice lawsuits filed in Maryland in 2016 with a brief summary of plaintiff’s allegations in the case. You can get all malpractice lawsuits filed in Maryland in 2017 up until April on our website.

Hall v. Genesis Healthcare, LLC (filed on January 4, 2016): This is a bedsore case in Prince George’s County. Genesis Healthcare fails to take the proper precautions to prevent bedsores from developing on the woman’s body. Woman dies, and her two surviving sons bring a wrongful death lawsuit.
Stanford v. United States – (January 5, 2016): This is a cancer misdiagnosis lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Biopsy performed with an inadequate specimen. A better specimen would have revealed Stage I cancer that is usually curable by surgery. Stage III cancer discovered three years later. Prognosis is death within five years.