Maryland Injury Law Center

May 11, 2015

New 4th Circuit Opinion | Did Doctor Lie for Disability Policy?

The Fourth Circuit decided a case that addresses an interesting insurance law question; while also touching on another issue that vexes medical malpractice lawyers in Maryland. The 4th Circuit overruled a great judge, Federal Magistrate Jillyn K. Schulze, who awarded summary judgment against a suspended surgeon for making a disability claim.

While cursed with a boring name, Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London v. Cohen, is a case that has some interesting facts. The Plaintiffs are underwriters at Lloyd’s of London. The defendant was a general surgeon in Bethesda, who was suspended for three months from practicing medicine in Maryland, because he violated the standard of care, kept inadequate medical records and grossly over-utilized health care services. I’m not sure of all the details, but they are strong allegations against a surgeon. Anyway, the insurers wanted to rescind a disability policy, because the doctor made material misrepresentations on a disability policy, which he later sought benefits.

May 5, 2015

The Only Way to Get More Than the Insurance Policy in an Accident Cases

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

What boggles people’s minds is the fact that many Maryland car accidents that lead to death and disability settle for $100,000 or less. Some settle for $30,000 in cases where the liability is clear or even if the defendant was drunk out of his mind.

How to get more than the auto insurance policy limits

How does this happen? In many cases, the key to recovery is finding insurance. Know where to look and you have to know how to look. But sometimes there is nothing there even when you look in the right places.

Okay…so how can this happen? Maryland requires that each licensed vehicle be covered by auto insurance of some kind. But the minimum auto liability insurance required is quite low in relation to the potential that a vehicle will inflict harm. Consequently, a driver may be hit by another car that has as little as $30,000 in maximum liability coverage ($15,000 per person/$30,000 per accident). The non-negligent driver may have been severely injured by another driver who has few personal assets, in which case, even prompt payment of the negligent driver’s $30,000 in liability insurance will do little to compensate the severely injured non-negligent driver. As a result, every driver is constantly at risk of being severely injured by an impecunious driver with low policy limits.

April 15, 2015

Emergency Room Malpractice Claim: New Study

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A new study on emergency room malpractice was released today that looks at why ER doctors are so frequently sued in misdiagnosis claims.

The study was conducted by The Doctors Company, which is a big insurer of doctors, hospitals, and physician groups. It is easy to roll your eyes because you know these folks come with an agenda. And of course, their conclusions are euphemistic distortions or maybe downright fictions, but I take most of the data at face value because I can’t see the point of cooking the relative malpractice incidence rates.

The study looked at 332 closed emergency room malpractice claims. Four types of cases made up the lion’s share of the cases:

Misdiagnosis: 57%
Improper Management: 13%
Improper Treatment: 5%
Failure to Order Medications: 3%

Misdiagnosis is the biggest culprit. The study says 57%; I would have put this number at 75 percent. Misdiagnosis includes failing to make a differential diagnosis and failing to consider all the symptoms of the patient’s condition. I would love to see data on “just didn’t know” versus “just didn’t take the time” because my very unscientific guess is that they are probably equally balanced. But the study takes a roundabout shot at trying to answer this question, breaking up misdiagnosis cases like this:

March 31, 2015

New Maryland Malpractice Appellate Opinion | Habit Testimony

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals recently handed down its opinion in Rosebrock v. Eastern Shore Emergency Physicians. The opinion makes defense attorney’s jobs a little easier when it comes to admitting testimony in medical malpractice cases, of what the doctor usually does when the doctor has no recollection of the care provided to the patient. This post addresses this case and whether this ruling is significant to Maryland medical malpractice law. I’ll also talk a little about an off the beaten path issue related to agency and personal representation.

Habit testimony in Maryland malpractice cases

This is a medical malpractice case where a nurse’s aide slipped and fell, while on duty, at Ruxton Nursing Home located in Denton, Maryland. After the fall, she complained of hip, knee, and back pain. EMTs arrived and immobilized the woman, then place her on a backboard. She went to the emergency room at Shore System’s Memorial Hospital in Easton, Maryland. The ER doctor orders an x-ray of the patients’ knees and hips, but there is no record of her examining the patient’s back; even though she complained about her back to the triage nurse. The x-rays come back negative, prompting the doctor to discharge the patient with minor knee and hip contusions.

Later on, the patient is still experiencing significant pain, resulting in another doctor ordering an MRI. The MRI showed a degenerative disk in the patient’s back, which is later revealed to be a burst/fractured vertebrae. Obviously, this is a bit more serious than a minor contusion, and the patient has to get spinal fusion surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery results in an infection, causing the patient to suffer a brain injury and enter a vegetative state.

February 23, 2015

How Sure Does an Expert Need to Be in a Maryland Personal Injury Cases?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

In any serious personal injury case in Maryland, you need an expert to testify. Are there some cases where the injury is so obvious that a medical expert is not required? There may be. But anyone willing to take that chance should not be trying tort cases in Maryland.

Why Do We Need an Expert?

An expert has several purposes. First, with a few exceptions, you want to ask the jury to compensate you for the medical bills that you have incurred, even if they have been paid by medical insurance (because the jury is not told that insurance paid for the medical bills). Accordingly, you need a medical doctor with experience treating that injury to testify that the medical treatment that the plaintiff received was fair, reasonable, and medically necessary.

February 12, 2015

Nerve Damage Causing Foot Drop After Total Hip Replacement

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Click to enlarge

Nearly a quarter of a million Americans undergo total hip replacement surgery. All of them do so reluctantly. This invasive orthopedic surgery is a major operation. Everyone agrees that there are unavoidable risks involved in the procedure. These risks include a foot drop (also called peroneal nerve palsy or drop foot), sciatic nerve injuries, and, many believe, RSD even when the surgery is performed properly. There is no doubt that the fact that it is a known complication of hip replacement surgery does not make for a straightforward malpractice case no matter how egregious the facts are. I’m telling you that the surgeon could do the operation with a machete while wearing a Groucho Marx mask and any Maryland insurance company would still mount a defense. But that does not answer the question posed, which is whether it can be medical malpractice when a patient has a foot drop after a total hip replacement. Continue reading

February 6, 2015

Why Do Baltimore Drivers Pay More for Insurance?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Click to enlarge

Our main office is now in downtown Baltimore. I love it here. I really do. But driving in Baltimore can be a pain. The daily commute usually involves at least one narrowly escaped crash, jaywalkers deciding to cross right as your light turns green, and the Circulator cutting you off a few times. It’s the price of doing business downtown.

Baltimore’s drivers aren’t the best, but they’re definitely not the worst. That’s because they’re only the second-worst. Allstate rated Baltimore’s drivers 193^rd out of 194 different cities in the US. D.C. was the only city that fared worse. There is a reason Baltimore car accident lawyers keep busy and why Maryland ranks 9th in the cost of car insurance premiums. While this reality makes our drives more perilous every day, it affects city residents’ wallets in a huge way.

February 5, 2015

Is Hands Free Driving Safe?

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Maryland has banned the use of handheld cell phones while driving. Obviously, this includes texting, but it also applies to holding a cell phone up to your ear while you talk.

I’m glad we have this law. It makes sense that you have both hands to drive and react to emergencies. Right? It does not take a Rhodes Scholar to figure this out.

February 4, 2015

Getting to the Maryland Courthouse Steps in Malpractice Cases

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Bringing a medical malpractice case in Maryland is not something that most lawyers are competent to do. Maryland law makes you jump through a lot of administrative hoops when filing malpractice cases. Experienced malpractice lawyers have screwed up the procedural requirements for bringing a claim. Maryland law and its courts are more than willing to hold a victim’s feet to the fire on technical details that really would not be of consequence if the system was truly interested in allowing victims access to justice.

February 2, 2015

Backing Out of Settlement Agreements | New Maryland Case

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Last week, the Maryland Court of Appeals decided Falls Garden Condominium Association v. Falls Homeowner’s Association. It is not a personal injury case. In fact, it’s a case about parking spots. But Falls Garden is actually a case about settlement contracts and their enforceability. If you are a Maryland personal injury lawyer, you need to know when a deal is actually a binding deal.

Typically, counsel on both sides of the aisle assume that you have a binding deal when you agree to the numbers on the claim. Most settlements really do go smooth, particularly in car accident cases. State Farm, GEICO, and their brethren do not really care about confidentially, admissions, or anything else outside of its standard form settlement agreement. But malpractice insurers and their doctors and hospitals and product liability defendants often treat settlement agreements like they are reinventing the wheel.

Keep in mind that, as plaintiffs’ attorneys, we never really have those types of things we are trying to slip in under the wire for a settlement. Our essential term is money and we are not trying to get the defendants to agree to other terms in personal injury cases.