Our Verdicts and Settlements  08/23/2007
Verdicts and Settlements  

Sepsis: A Potentially Lethal Complication of Bacterial Infection  10/24/2007
One of the most dangerous risks of contracting a serious bacterial infection is that the patient may develop sepsis--an overreaction by the immune system causing destructive inflammation throughout the body, often leading to heart and other organ failure and death. Even the best hospital intensive care units may be helpless to save patients stricken by severe sepsis.  

Medication Errors: A Form of Medical Malpractice  10/24/2007
According to a recent industry study from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, medication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year.  

Inexperienced Gastric Bypass Surgeons: Anticipated Spike in Litigation Claims  10/24/2007
With thousands of obese Americans opting for gastric bypass surgery (bariatric surgery) a growing collection of research suggests that this increasingly popular operation can have a hidden risk: inexperienced surgeons.  

Medical Device Sales Representatives in the Operating Room: Source of Potential Litigation  10/24/2007
In 1997, a 30-year-old woman died following a routine ambulatory surgical procedure to remove uterine fibroids. During the procedure, a new device was being utilized by the medical staff with the manufacturer's representative present in the operating room.  

Contributory Negligence Doctrine Bars Many Maryland Personal Injury Claims  10/24/2007
Personal Injury law in Maryland is vastly different then other states due to the Doctrine of Contributory Negligence.  

Failure To Prevent Suicide  10/25/2007
In July 2007, attorneys Andrew Slutkin and Jamison White of the law firm of Silverman Thompson Slutkin and White filed a medical malpractice case against Maryland psychiatrist Maguid Mansour, M.D. and Maryland psychologist Kevin Hennessy, Ph.D. alleging that they failed to property treat a suicidal patient.  

Construction Negligence and Fraud  10/25/2007
In September 2007, attorneys Andrew Slutkin and Avery Strachan of the law firm of Silverman Thompson Slutkin and White filed a construction fraud and construction negligence case in the Circuit Court for Harford County.  

Nursing Home Malpractice and Neglect  10/25/2007
Two Congressional Committees have announced that they will investigate the business practices of a number of privately held nursing homes due to high levels of medical malpractice, abuse and neglect.  

Birth Injury and Cerebral Palsy  10/29/2007
A child with cerebral palsy and his mother were awareded almost $8 million in damages last week in a medical malpractice lawsuit alleging birth injury against a Maine hospital and one of its nurse midwives.   

Birth Asphyxia Leads to Sizeable Jury Verdict  10/29/2007
Earlier this month, a DuPage County, Illinois jury awarded the family of a seven-year-old boy who was crippled at birth $12 million dollars. In making this award, jurors agreed that Dr. Steven Ambrust was responsible for a 45-minute delay during the Benjamin Hayes' birth that deprived him of oxygen and caused his disability.  

Failure to Remove Patient's Oxygen Mask Causes Severe Burns  11/01/2007
Medical professionals' failure to remove a patient's oxygen mask prior to cauterizing open facial wounds sparked a fire that severely burned the patient's face.   

Hospital Accused of Negligence in "Superbug" Staph Case  11/01/2007
New York mother announces plans for lawsuit against hospital and emergency room physician for failure to properly diagnosed 12-year-old boy with MRSA/Superbug. Failure to properly diagnose illness is alleged to have ultimately resulted in child's death.  

Untreated Patient Dies Outside Hospital Emergency Room  11/01/2007
33-year-old man dies outside hospital emergency room after waiting more than 3 hours for treatment of ongoing chest pain, right arm pain and uncontrollable shaking. Medical records demonstrate that the hospital health care providers failed to perform a simple test to determine whether his heart was functioning properly upon his arrival to the triage area.   

Jury Awards 10.4 Million For Negligence In Administering Heparin  11/14/2007
Physicians treating a boy who was injured while camping negligently administered Heparin which caused the boy to bleed into his spine causing permanent injuries. Subsequently, physicians negligently fitted the boy with a halo device designed to stablize his head's movement, over-tightening one of the screws into the boy's skull, causing additional bleeding, a stroke, a seizure and permanent brain injuries.   

Pool Drain Disembowelment  11/16/2007
The family of a 6 year old girl who was severely injured after sitting on an open drain in a shallow country club pool filed a lawsuit this week against the club and pool manufacturer.   

Misdiagnosis of Brain Abscess  11/27/2007
A Pittsburgh woman who suffered a brain abscess after a physician's assistant misdiagnosed a sinus infection has been awardeed $3 million by a jury. In 2001, the woman visited the office of two doctors and was prescribed steroids for complaints of headaches and nasal problems. Experts in the case testified that the steroids, without an antibiotic, would mask and exacerbate the infection. The woman remains unable to regulate her emotions and has difficulty with complex cognitive function.   

Truck Collision  12/17/2007
The parents of two girls who were killed after a concrete truck struck their family's car will receive $9 million as part of a settlement with the trucking company. The parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping claiming that the driver was negligent in the crash. State Highway Patrol records show that the driver was traveling at an unsafe speed before the incident.   

Parents of Fraternity Pledge Awarded $1.5 Million  12/18/2007
The parents of a fraternity pledge who died after 12 days of hazing and torture were awarded $1.5 million in a wrongful death suit against one of the tormentors.  

Medication Error and Overdose Leads to Suit Against Drug Manufacturer  12/18/2007
A recently filed lawsuit against Baxter International alleges that a failure to properly label and package the medication heparin led to infant twins being given a dosage of medication nearly 1000 times the strength that was prescribed.   

Dog Attack Lawsuit Settled  02/07/2008
A California woman and her family will receive about $1 million to settle a lawsuit against the owner of a bulldog that attacked her. The woman suffered severe injuries, requiring hospitalization and multiple surgeries, when the 90-pound dog attacked while she was walking her own dog. The dog's owner was sentenced to four months in jail as a result of the attack.   

Cerebral Palsy Verdict  02/11/2008
A jury in Connecticut has awarded $38.5 million to the family of a child who was born with cerebral palsy. The jury found that Dr. Corrinne De Cholnoky was negligent for failing to order a timely Caesarean Section to untangle the child’s umbilical cord, which was impeding blood flow to his brain. The award is believed to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Connecticut state history.  

Hospitals Slow To Respond To Cardiac Arrest  02/12/2008
The results of a new study have shown that in nearly a third of cases hospital staffs take too long to respond to sudden cardiac arrests. The study, to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimates that the delays contribute to increased rates of brain damages and death each year. Data for the study were gathered from records at 369 hospitals where patients' hearts stopped because of conditions that could be reversed using a defibrillator.   

Patient Care Suffers as ER Waits Increase  02/12/2008
A new study has found that emergency room waiting times nationwide increased 36 percent between 1997 and 2004. The study, conducted by researchers from the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, concluded that the increased wait likely has an adverse impact on patient care and may cause some to leave the hospital before seeing a doctor. Data for the study were based on the more than 90,000 emergency room visits in urban and non-urban areas.   

$22 Million Awarded To Family of Woman Who Died During Child Birth  02/12/2008
Illinois jurors have handed down a record verdict to the family of a woman who died from complications during child birth. Jurors awarded $22 million to the family, finding that the hospital staff's failure to treat the woman's high blood pressure resulted in a massive brain hemorrhage. The verdict is the largest award involving the death of a woman in Illinois, according to the Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter.  

Birth Trauma Settlement  02/12/2008
According to the San Diego Union, Kaiser Permanente will pay $3.2 million to a disabled girl as part of birthing malpractice settlement reached earlier this month. According to court documents, the girl, now 14, was left with brain damage following a Caesarian delivery and suffers from physical and behavior problems. The settlement will be used to purchase an annuity for the girl.   

Plavix Cessation Tied to Heart Risks  02/12/2008
The blood-clot preventing drug Plavix has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack or death in patients who took the drug and then stopped following procedures to install a stent, researchers have found. According to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients showed an almost two-fold increase of heart problems within the first 90 days of cessation when compared to later follow-up periods.   

Suit Filed Over Misrepresentation of Identity of Lung Donor  02/12/2008
As reported in the Daily Pennsylvanian, the mother of a man who died after he received the cancerous lungs of a smoker during a transplant has filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania hospital that performed the procedure. In the lawsuit, Emma Grier claims that doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania knowingly misrepresented the identity of the lung donor. The complaint also names the doctor who determined the lungs to be suitable for transplant and the organ donation program that provided the lungs.   

Failure to Diagnose and treat Cancer  02/18/2008
A Pennsylvania jury has ordered a doctor to pay approximately $4 million after finding that he was negligent for failing to diagnose a woman's breast cancer. The lawsuit alleged that Dr. Joseph M. Skutches failed to pursue a traditional course of treatment after a woman complained to him about a painful lump in her breast.   

Manufacturer of Heparin Ceases Making Drug After Severe Allergic Reactions Reported  02/19/2008
As reported in the New York Times last week, a major maker of heparin, a blood thinner used widely in surgery and dialysis, has stopped making it after hundreds of patients reported severe allergic reactions to the drug, which is made from pig intestines. At least four people died. Although alternatives exist, doctors warned of serious consequences if heparin became truly scarce. Public health officials first noticed a problem late last year in four children undergoing dialysis at a hospital in Missouri. Within minutes of being injected with heparin, the children experienced serious allergic reactions. As officials investigated, they found a total of 350 reports of patients' experiencing problems after being injected with large doses of heparin made by Baxter Healthcare. Baxter supplies about half the nation's heparin. Most of the cases were reported in late December or January and 40 percent were deemed serious. Allergic reactions included difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating and rapidly falling blood pressure that in some cases led to life-threatening shock. Heparin is used in dialysis and is also used to prevent clotting in catheters, which 25 percent of dialysis patients have to use for treatment. The drug is also commonly used in heart bypass surgery. If you or a loved one have experienced a recent serious allergic reaction to Heparin, contact the lawyers at Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White for a free consultation.   

List of Worst Nursing Homes Released  02/19/2008
As reported last week in USA Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have released the names of the nation’s 131 worst nursing homes. The high-risk nursing homes, cited as ‘special focus facilities’ in the list, are required to receive at least twice as many state inspections as other facilities. The list released Tuesday showed that 52 of the nursing homes had shown no improvement since being cited for poor performance.   

Jury Awards $24 Million For Botched Kidney Stone Removal  02/19/2008
As reported in the The Times this week, on Thursday, an Illinois jury awarded a man nearly $24 million in medical malpractice case brought against a doctor and nurse practitioner following complications suffered while having a kidney stone removed from his ureter. According to court records, the plaintiff entered St. Mary's Hospital in Streator, Illinois in November 2001 for surgery involving a kidneystone in his ureter. During surgery, he underwent cardiac arrest and the flow of oxygen to his brain was interrupted. As a result of the oxygen interruption, the man lost most of his fine motor skills and suffers from spastic movement, severe double vision and slow, slurred speech, making him difficult to understand. He is married and has two children. Before the surgery, he worked for a phone company.   

Anesthesia Malpractice  02/19/2008
An Illinois jury has ordered a doctor and nurse anesthetist practitioner to pay $24 million to a victim of medical malpractice. The plaintiff in the case suffers from severe physical injuries resulting from oxygen deprivation that happened during kidney stone surgery.   

Chance of Surviving A Cardiac Arrest Depends On The Time It Occurs  02/26/2008
As set forth recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association, if you are in the hospital and have cardiac arrest at night or on the weekend, you have a significantly lower chance of survival to discharge than if you had the arrest during day or evening times on weekdays.   

Man Who Fell into Manhole  02/26/2008
A former University of Pennsylvania medical student who fell into an open manhole will receive $18 million as part of a settlement ageement with Trigen-Philadelphia Energy Corp, the company that operates Philadelphia's underground steam system. The man was unable to earn his medical degree because of back injuries he sustained in the fall.   

Failure to Properly Perform Carotid Endarterectomy  02/26/2008
In February 2007, attorneys Andrew Slutkin and Todd Reinecker of the Baltimore law firm of Silverman Thompson Slutkin and White filed a medical malpractice case against Maryland Vascular Surgeon Dr. Juan Juanteguy and his former medical partner, Dr. Sohalia Ali, alleging that they failed to property perform a vascular surgical procedure known as a carotid endarterectomy upon a patient at Sinai Hospital, and then failed to properly manage her complciations after surgery, causing the patient suffered a severe and permanent stroke. The case will be scheduled for trial in early 2009.   

$3.7 Million Verdict in Birth Injury Case  02/29/2008
An Indianapolis jury has awarded a woman and her daughter a $3.7 million judgment in a medical malpractice case arising from the girl's troubled birth. The lawsuit alleged that the 6-year-old girl will live with cerebral palsy the rest of her life because of delays in the delivery that deprived her brain of oxygen. She was born via C-section in October 2001. Indiana limits medical malpractice awards, so the judgment on the three claims will be reduced to just under $2 million.   

Failure To Timely Diagnose Breast Cancer - Medical Malpractice  03/03/2008
A woman with terminal breast cancer was awarded $12 million in damages from two doctors that allegedly failed to diagnose the disease until it was too late, a Pennsylvania jury ruled this past Wednesday. According to the lawsuit, the doctor missed several opportunities to report abnormalities that should have resulted in a diagnosis of breast cancer. Another doctor named as a defendant reached a confidential settlement prior to trial, according to an attorney for the woman.  

Maryland Medical Injury Attorneys  03/03/2008
Our firm's aggressive litigation and trial skills have resulted in significant jury verdicts and recoveries against numerous large corporations and insurance companies.  

Medical Malpractice Verdict - Thyroid Surgery  03/06/2008
On Monday, a Massachusetts jury ordered a surgeon to pay $14.5 million in damages to the husband of a woman who died following thyroid surgery. Jurors found that the doctor was responsible for the death and that another surgeon was negligent but not responsible for the death.  

Blindness After Surgery  03/10/2008
A New Hampshire jury has awarded $1.75 million to a man who became blind after undergoing surgery to repair a broken leg. According to the lawsuit, the doctor failed to give the man blood to stabilize his condition following a car accident, causing nerve damage that blinded the man. Two other doctors who participated in the surgery were not found liable for the man's injuries.  

Medical Malpractice Birth Injury  03/19/2008
A New Jersey jury has awarded more than $19 million in a medical malpractice case to a 10 year old boy who was disabled from birth. The money will allow the boy's mother to pay for his care for the rest of his life, equip their home to accommodate his special needs and purchase a wheelchair-accessible van for his transportation. According to thesuit, the doctor initially misdiagnosed the mother, who was 30 weeks pregnant at the time, after she called him one evening complaining of ab dominal pain. The doctor allegedly delayed in determining that the mother was hemorrhaging and had lost a massive amount of blood. The child eventually was delivered, had to be resuscitated and spent four months in intensive care. He suffers from severe brain damage, cerebral palsy and is legally blind.  

Birth Injury Verdict  04/08/2008
A Florida jury has ordered a hospital and gynecologist to pay $30 million for negligence that led to a 17-year-old boy's physical and mental disabilities. The jurors awarded $24 million in compensatory damages and $6 million in non-economic damages against Westside Regional Medical Center and Dr. Mark Grenitz. The verdict may be the largest ever awarded in a Broward County medical malpractice case.   

Spiriva May Increase Risk of Stroke  04/16/2008
According to U.S. regulators' recent reports, the respiratory medicine Spiriva HandiHaler may increase the risk of stroke. As noted first on Bloomberg.com, the Food and Drug Administration published a notice indicating that Spiriva was associated with two more cases of stroke in every 1,000 patients treated for one year compared with a placebo medicine in a pooled analysis of 13,500 patients. Spiriva is marketed by Boehringer, the world's largest family owned drugmaker with Pfizer Inc., as a once-a-day inhaled treatment for breathing difficulty caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.   

Maryland Braces for Contaminated Heparin  04/22/2008
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) suspects that contaminated heparin may be the cause of dozens of deaths in the United States. The contaminated lots of the blood thinner have been linked to at least at least 12 different Chinese companies. Heparin was marketed by Baxter International Inc., of Deerfield, Ill.  

Maryland Trucking Accident Kills Four including Infant  04/22/2008
A box truck and a passenger car collided on Route 1 in Howard County, Maryland killing four and critically injuring a fifth person-a child.   

Maryland Injury Lawyers Note Heparin Maker Has Local Ties  04/23/2008
Maryland personal injury lawyers are preparing for a potential class action law suit against a Maryland firm which owns the majority of Wisconsin based Scientific Protein Laboratories, Ltd., a Wisconsin-based company.   

What is Sepsis? How is it Diagnosed?   04/24/2008
Sepsis - the body's ultimate response to a bacterial infection -- is characterized by severe reaction of the body's organs to the foreign bacteria and/or death. Although sepsis often results from the widespread invasion of bacteria into a patient's bloodstream, this invasion is not essential for the development of severe sepsis since local infection/inflammation can also cause distant organ dysfunction and blood pressure irregularities.   

Hasilty Performed Colonoscopy Leads to Missed Cancer Diagnosis  04/24/2008
As was first reported in the Las Vegas Sun, a lawsuit was settled last month whcih claimed that a doctor missed a man's cancer during a hastily performed colonoscopy.Kevin Rexford, a 46-year-old pharmacist, said the defendant, one of the clinic's owners, missed an obvious colon cancer diagnosis three years ago. The alleged failure allowed the cancer to spread throughout his body and he now has only about a 10 percent chance of living five more years.   

Malpractice Lawsuit Follows Brain-Dead Mother's Delivery of Premature Baby  04/24/2008
As was reported by the Associated Press, the birth of Susan Anne Catherine Torres, delivered by a brain-dead mother who was kept on life support to sustain the pregnancy, made medical history less than three years ago. A recently filed malpractice lawsuit is now raising legal questions about the degree to which a doctor's obligations in treating a pregnant woman also extend to her unborn fetus. In the lawsuit, Jason Torres, the father of the Susan Anne and husband of the brain-dead mother, Susan Torres, seeks damages against the ER physician who treated his wife in 2005. The lawsuit holds the ER physician responsible not only for the mother's death, but also the death of the baby, who died 5 weeks after delivery due to complications from a premature delivery.   

Malpractice Suit Filed After Hospital Transplants Cancerous Lungs to New Patient  06/03/2008
An ongoing case in federal court in Newark, New Jersey highlights the hidden dangers of organ transplants in the United States. In 2005, Tony Grier, 43, was dying from a rare lung disease when he received two donor lungs from a 31 year old woman who died in a car accident. Grier died six months later after it was discovered that the transplanted lungs had lung cancer. Lawyers for Mr. Grier's estate contend the hospital should have known the lungs were cancerous because the donor had smoked for 16 years.   

George Court Strikes Down Cap on Non-Economic Damages as Unconstitutional  06/03/2008
As first reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month, a Superior Court judge struck down the cap on damage awards in medical malpractice cases as unconsitutional. If upheld on appeal, this holding could undercut a major component of Georgia's tort reform laws.  

Charleston Physician Files Malpractice Suit Against Two Other Doctors  06/03/2008
As first reported in the Charleston Daily Mail last month, a Charleston physician has filed a malpractice lawsuit against two other doctors and Thomas Memorial Hospital, alleging negligence and improper treatment when he needed abdominal surgery. The lawsuit contends that the hospital and physicians failed to provide adequate, proper and safe medical care, advice, assessment, monitoring and treatment to Cunningham. They also failed to perform an appropriate and safe surgical procedure on him, he says.After surgery, Cunningham said he developed an infection.   

Jury Awards $6 Million in Morphine Overdose  06/03/2008
As first reported in the Tuscon Citizen last month, a jury awarded a Tucson family $6 million in a lawsuit brought after an ailing 81-year-old relative died of a morphine overdose.   

Medical Malpractice (Medical Negligence) Cases Involving Baltimore Hospitals  06/23/2008
At Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White, we are well known in the Baltimore-Washington area for successfully handling many medical malpractice (medical negligence) cases. While the care is generally good at area hospitals, patients and their loved ones need to watch out for themselves or loved ones when they are treated at or admitted to these hospitals.   

Woman Awarded 22.6 Million After Baby Stuck In Birth Canal For 13 Hours  06/23/2008
As initially reported in the Cincinnati Enquirer, an Ohio woman whose baby was stuck in her birth canal for 13½ hours won $22.6 million last month in a medical malpractice lawsuit.   

Failure to Diagnose Infection Leads to Verdict  07/09/2008
Failure to perform routine biopsy and urine test on man with fungal disease results in verdict against health care providers.   

Failure to Timely Treat Pulmonary Embolism Leads to Settlement  07/09/2008
Failure to timely diagnose and treat pulmonary embolism with STAT chest CT scan, heparin therapy and an ultrasound, causes woman's death and leads to medical malpractice/negligence suit.   

Jury Awards $1.25 Million For Failure to Test Dialysis Patient for Excessive Potassium  07/10/2008
Tennessee jury awards $1.25 million to mother of man who died following a breakdown in communication between health care providers. As a result of this medical error / medical negligence / medical malpractice, a dialysis patient's potassium level was not carefully monitored and he died from hyperkalemia  

Reckless Construction of Pool Causes Child's Death and Leads to Manslaughter Charges  07/23/2008
Reckless construction of in-ground pool leads to manslaughter charges against president of swimming pool company after a 6 year old boy drowns after his arm becomes trapped in pool's suction drain.   

Hospital Neglect Leads to Drowning Death  07/23/2008
Nurses' failure to properly check on patient led to drowning death of post-partum patient in hospital bathtub.