Baltimore Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Attorneys for Injuries Caused by Medical Negligence in Baltimore, MD

When a doctor or other healthcare provider makes a medical mistake, the results for the patient can be devastating. Injuries caused by medical negligence can have a life-long impact on the patient and their families. These injuries may result in significant medical bills, costs for future medical care, lost wages, and physical and emotional pain, suffering, and mental anguish.

Medical malpractice claims are among the most complex personal injury claims because of the complicated medical issues involved and the near-unlimited resources of hospitals and insurance companies defending against these claims. The medical malpractice attorneys at Silverman Thompson have the experience and resources to successfully advocate for our clients in this complicated arena while compassionately guiding them through a difficult and painful experience.

Senior Partner Andrew G. Slutkin leads our firm's medical malpractice department, and he has over 30 years of experience litigating high-stakes, complex medical malpractice matters against many of the largest and most world-renowned hospitals and healthcare institutions in the country. Mr. Slutkin is assisted by Partner Ethan S. Nochumowitz, who has more than a decade of experience successfully prosecuting catastrophic injury and wrongful death claims arising out of medical negligence. Mr. Slutkin and Mr. Nochumowitz collectively have recovered more than six hundred million dollars for their clients.

Addressing Multiple Forms of Medical Negligence

Our team has successfully resolved hundreds of medical malpractice cases in a variety of areas, including:

• Hospital malpractice
• Emergency room malpractice
• Birth injuries
• Cerebral palsy
• Brachial plexus/Erb's palsy
• Wrongful birth
• Misdiagnosis
• Brain injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Surgical errors and/or surgical injuries
• Foreign objects inside the body
• Anesthesia errors
• Infections/sepsis
• Cancer
• Stroke
• Pulmonary embolism
• Aortic dissection
• Cardiology errors
• IV extravasation
• Medication errors
• Failure to provide informed consent
• Intubation errors
• Laboratory errors
• Radiology errors
• Defective medical devices
• Spinal cord stimulators
• Nursing home negligence

Many factors can contribute to medical errors, such as:

• Over-extended physician schedules
• Illegible handwriting
• Lack of knowledge or certification
• Inadequate staffing
• Carelessness or inattention to detail

It is not uncommon for an act of medical malpractice to go undiscovered. Often, a patient or family member may suspect medical malpractice, but they have been reassured by a doctor, nurse, or hospital that their care was carried out according to proper procedures. While this may be true in some situations, there are many cases in which it is not.

In Maryland, few civil lawsuits are as complex, intellectually demanding, or as highly contested as medical malpractice lawsuits. The insurance companies providing coverage to hospitals or healthcare providers have nearly unlimited resources to defend their interests and to avoid compensating a person who may have a valid medical malpractice claim. At our firm, we have the legal skills, medical knowledge, and experience to protect our clients' interests. We also have the financial resources to put clients on equal ground with powerful hospitals and insurance companies.

Our Process in Medical Malpractice Cases

Our investigation of your malpractice claim will start with a detailed conversation with one of our experienced medical malpractice attorneys in which we will learn more about what happened to you. From there, we will order all of the relevant medical records, organize them, and review them in detail.

The next step is to have the medical records reviewed either by our legal nurse consultant (who is a Registered Nurse), or by an expert physician in the relevant field of medicine. One of the resources that we have that sets us above many other medical malpractice attorneys is our access to top, highly trained medical experts who have been educated at the country's most prestigious medical schools and work at world-renowned hospitals.

If, after reviewing the medical records, our experts are able to certify that, in their opinion, the healthcare provider violated the standard of care (acted negligently under the circumstances), we will make a pre-litigation claim or file a lawsuit against that healthcare provider. This will begin the process of seeking to obtain the compensation that you deserve.

As a result of our significant track record of success in these cases, as well as our demonstrated willingness to take medical malpractice cases to jury trials when necessary, hospitals and their insurers take us—and by extension, our clients—seriously. Our reputation and our willingness to fight for our clients can help us negotiate a settlement that will provide you with the compensation you deserve.

Significant Medical Malpractice Verdicts and Settlements

As a result of our wealth of knowledge and our experience handling medical malpractice cases, we regularly obtain multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements for clients who have been injured and harmed by medical mistakes. The following is just a sample of those recoveries:

• $7,600,000 for failing to properly interpret a prenatal sonogram
• $5,000,000 for wrongful death due to the failure to diagnose pulmonary embolism
• $4,000,000 for failure to diagnose a spinal cord condition
• $3,500,000 for negligent implantation of a spinal cord stimulator
• $3,100,000 for failure to timely diagnose and treat lymphoma
• $2,999,000 for failure to prevent pulmonary embolism
• $2,900,000 for failure to diagnose an infection resulting in leg amputation
• $2,500,000 for failure to diagnose an infection resulting in leg amputation
• $2,500,000 for failure to prevent stroke following vascular surgery
• $2,000,000 for failure to diagnose a chromosomal abnormality

As a result of verdicts and settlements such as these and others, hospitals and their insurers consider Mr. Slutkin and our team to be among the most highly respected medical malpractice attorneys in Maryland.

How Do I File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Maryland?

As Maryland medical malpractice attorneys, we often are asked what the requirements are for filing a medical malpractice claim in Maryland. Pursuing a medical malpractice claim is a complex process that is governed by very specific laws and requirements. Understanding those laws and requirements is crucial to the likelihood of success and compensation for victims of medical malpractice.

Step 1: Hire a Medical Malpractice Attorney

If you may have been a victim of medical malpractice, you should hire an attorney immediately to promptly investigate your potential claim. An investigation by an attorney will include obtaining and reviewing the medical records and hiring the required and appropriate experts to certify that your case has merit. These steps must all be taken within the proper timeframes to ensure that a claim will be filed well in advance of the statute of limitations. Because of the complexity of medical malpractice claims, you should not attempt to satisfy these legal requirements on your own.

Step 2: File a Claim Within the Statute of Limitations

The next requirement is to ensure that the claim is filed within the statute of limitations, otherwise known as the deadline for filing a malpractice lawsuit. Generally speaking, in Maryland, the statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice claim is three years from the date of the alleged negligence if the incident happened when the person was 18 or older. That deadline sometimes can be delayed until three years after the date the negligence was or should have been discovered. However, in no case (other than a case involving a minor, who would have until their 21st birthday to file a claim) can a medical malpractice claim be filed more than five years from the date of the alleged malpractice, regardless of when the alleged negligence was discovered.

Step 3: Have the Claim Reviewed by a Qualified Medical Expert

A medical malpractice claim must be supported by a "Certificate of Qualified Expert" (sometimes called a certificate of merit) and a report authored by a medical expert. That expert must have reviewed the facts of the case, and they must certify that the defendant healthcare provider violated the applicable standard of care and that the violation was a cause of the injuries and damages sustained by the victim. However, a claim cannot be supported by just any medical expert. The expert must be licensed to practice medicine, they must be actively practicing in the same or a similar field as the defendant healthcare provider, and they must not devote more than 25 percent of their professional time to testifying in medical malpractice cases.

Step 4: File a "Statement of Claim"

Finally, before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in a state or federal court, the plaintiff first must file a "Statement of Claim" in the Maryland Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (HCADRO). Once the claim has been filed, and the appropriate Certificate of Merit and Report have been filed along with the claim, the plaintiff may choose (and usually does choose) to unilaterally "waive" the claim out of the HCADRO and file a lawsuit in state or federal court, at which time the discovery process will begin.

Contact Our Baltimore, MD Medical Malpractice Attorneys

At Silverman Thompson, we can make sure all procedures are followed correctly during a medical malpractice case. We have the experience needed to help you achieve success and recover compensation for the injuries you have suffered due to medical negligence. To set up a complimentary consultation and see how we can make a difference for you, contact our Baltimore medical negligence lawyers at 410-385-2225.