Parents awarded $1.1 million in medical malpractice suit

When injured or sick, individuals seek the expert advice and care of medical professionals. Most of the time, they are healed and continue on with their lives. However, it unfortunately does not always work out this way for some Maryland residents, whose conditions either deteriorate, are complicated or even receive further injury. Fortunately for these victims, the legal system has developed rules and procedures to help to determine who is liable for these sorts of injuries suffered — this is known as medical malpractice.

Two out-of-state parents were recently awarded a $1.1 million award for a medical malpractice suit six years after the death of the their 3-year-old daughter. The suit had been filed against an out-of-state medical center and a pediatrician. Their daughter had died of multiple-organ failure.

The victim became ill on Jan. 17, 2010, complaining of abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea and other symptoms, according to the suit, which was filed in January 2012. After going to the emergency room at the medical center, she was taken to a pediatrician. The pediatrician allegedly told the parents that the child did not need to go to the local children’s hospital. The child’s care was then turned over to an on-call doctor, who allegedly did not get lab results that, according to court records, would have been critical to the patient’s care; she also handled her care by phone. The patient was flown to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital on Jan. 21, only to die Feb. 9 due to multiple organ failure, per the suit.

Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional fails to meet the established standards of care in his or her area of medicine. The case is considered valid when it meets two separate requirements: firstly, that the negligence or malpractice was perpetrated by a nurse, doctor, hospital or similar health care provider and, secondly, that the act directly resulted in the injury, disability or death of the victim. An experienced Maryland personal injury attorney is typically consulted to assess the validity of such a claim.

Source: annistonstar.com, “RMC, Anniston pediatrician to pay total of $1.1 million to parents in wrongful death suit“, Kirsten Fiscus, Dec. 7, 2016