1101 St. Paul St.
Suite 404
Baltimore, MD 21202
Telephone 410 539 7816
Fax 410 539 3957
email jameskoch@jpkochlaw.com
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE AND OTHER SERIOUS PERSONAL INJURY
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What is the statute of limitations on medical malpractice cases? |
Determining Whether You Have A Case
You have a meritorious malpractice case if you sustained serious injuries caused by a health care provider's negligence. After you provide us with basic screening information about your case, we will investigate to determine whether you have a meritorious claim. Among other things, the investigation may include a review of your medical records and consultations with medical experts. No fee is charged for the initial investigation.
Negligence. Not every patient who sustains injuries as the result of medical treatment is the victim of medical malpractice. Some injuries, even if they are serious, are known risks of treatment that can occur even in the absence of negligence. Malpractice occurs when medical treatment is below the standard of care. Treatment is below the standard of care when it results in injury that is preventable.
Causation. A claimant does not necessarily have a meritorious malpractice claim even when the health care provider's negligence can be proven. In some cases, the patient's injury would have occurred anyway, even if the health care provider had complied with the standard of care. Sometimes the claimed injury was caused by a pre-existing medical condition. In such cases the health care provider's negligence did not make the patient's medical condition any worse. If the claimant can not prove that the health care provider's negligence actually caused an injury, then a malpractice lawsuit will necessarily fail.
The following are examples of medical errors that usually justify the filing of a lawsuit when the patient sustains serious injury or dies as a result:
Internal medicine.
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Failure to timely diagnose heart disease |
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Failure to timely diagnose cancer |
Emergency room medicine
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Failure to diagnose impending stroke |
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Hospitals
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Drug overdoses |
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Patient falls |
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Pressure sore ulcers |
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Failure to monitor patient's respiratory condition. |
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Pulmonary embolism |
Surgery
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Injuries to organs, blood vessels, or nerves, especially when not immediately recognized and treated |
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Failure to diagnose/ treat post-surgical infection |
Anesthesiology
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Obstetrics
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Shoulder dystocia resulting in brachial plexus injury |
| Failure to recognize fetal distress during delivery |
Malpractice cases are accepted on a contingent fee basis. If there is no recovery, there is no fee. In most cases, we can advance the costs of prosecuting the case. Costs are then deducted from the settlement or recovery at the end of the case.
Damages Recoverable in Malpractice Cases
Economic damages:
Past medical expenses
Future medical expenses and costs of care
Lost wages
Loss of earning capacity
Non-economic damages:
This includes pain and suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and loss of consortium (i.e., damage to the marital relationship).
Caps on non-economic damages:
Maryland has enacted limits on awards for non-economic damages in personal injury cases. The date on which a legal cause of action arises determines the amount of the damage cap:
If the cause of action arises the damage cap is
On or after 10/1/01 $605,000
On or after 10/1/02 $620,000
On or after 10/1/03 $635,000
On or after 10/1/04 $650,000
On or after 1/1/09 $675,000
Limits on damages in wrongful death and survival cases:
As the result of recent legislative enactments, the cap on non-economic damages recoverable in medical malpractice cases arising between 1/1/05 and 12/31/08 is $650,000. This is the aggregate amount that may be recovered as the result of a single medical injury, and applies in the aggregate to the wrongful death and survival actions. In wrongful death cases involving two or more claimants, the aggregate award for non-economic damages, to be divided among all beneficiaries, may not exceed $812,500 (125% of $650,000).
In Maryland, actions against health care providers generally must be commenced within five (5) years after the injury was committed, or within three (3) years after the injury was discovered, whichever is sooner.
Injuries to minors: In Pisselli v. 75th Street Medical, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that the three and five year time periods for filing a lawsuit do not commence running until the minor attains the age of 18.
Ignorance of cause of action caused by fraud. If the health care provider uses fraud to prevent a claimant from discovering a cause of action (for example, by concealing facts which would alert the patient that he had received negligent care), then the cause of action accrues when the claimant discovers or should have discovered the health care provider's fraud.
Wrongful death actions against health care providers must be filed within three (3) years after the date of death. The statute of limitations in a wrongful death action commences when the decedent dies, not when the injury resulting in death is discovered. The three-year rule applies even if the claimant was a minor at the time of the decedent's death.