Baltimore Medical Malpractice Lawyers Hold Responsible Parties Accountable
Maryland Personal Injury Law Firm Focuses on Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is comprehensive term used to describe any treatment, lack of treatment, or departure from accepted standards of medical care that causes injury. However, not all incidents that appear to constitute medical malpractice actually do. For this reason, you need the guidance of an experienced Maryland medical malpractice attorney who can determine whether or not your healthcare provider acted negligently, advise you regarding your potential for recovery, and help guide you toward the best course of action to take.
Several decades ago, Maryland mandated arbitration for medical malpractice cases. As a condition of bringing a personal injury lawsuit, the parties were required to arbitrate their claims before the Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office. However, if both parties agreed to waive the mandate, arbitration could be bypassed, and currently, if only one side waives arbitration, the case can go directly to court. Waivers must be filed up to 60 days after the two parties submit their Certificates of Merit.
What Conduct Might be Considered Medical Malpractice?
When a physician agrees to care for the patient, a doctor-patient relationship is established and the doctor owes a duty to a patient that he will meet the required standard of care. Some of the ways that a medical professional can be considered negligent include:
- Careless emergency care
- Surgical errors
- Unnecessary procedures
- Medication mistakes
- Nursing home neglect or abuse
- Dental and orthodontic errors
- Negligence on the part of psychologists and psychiatrists
- Improper hospital care
Recovering Damages for Medical Malpractice
To recover damages for medical malpractice in Maryland, a claimant will be required to prove the following:
- The medical provider owed them a duty of care.
- The medical provider breached their duty.
- The patient sustained an injury.
- The medical provider’s breach of duty caused the patient’s injury.
Injured persons can recover any economic damages they sustained due to medical malpractice. However, the Maryland legislature has limited the amount of non-economic damages that may be recovered, raising this cap by $15,000 each year. On October 1, 2020, maximum recovery for non-economic damages in a Maryland medical malpractice case will be $890,000.
Medical malpractice lawsuits on behalf of adults in Maryland must be filed either within five years of the date of the injury or three years from the date when the injury was reasonable discoverable, whichever is earlier. For minors, the deadline to file a medical malpractice case will not begin to run until they turn 18.