Man and wife receive $1.5 million in medical malpractice case

An out-of-state jury recently awarded a man and his wife $1.5 million as a result of a verdict in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The suit was against a medical center’s resident, whose misdiagnosis of the man’s injury cost him the use of his hand. In Maryland in situations like these, where medical professionals perform their jobs negligently, victims are typically entitled to file a medical malpractice suit against them and any other responsible parties that may have been responsible.

The 56-year-old man, a carpenter, received a faulty diagnosis in early Feb. 2011. As a result of this misdiagnosis, he cannot use his left hand. Additionally, the remaining part of that arm was permanently damaged.

On Feb. 2, 2011, the man suffered an injury at work and was rushed to a local hospital. He had been working on top of some scaffolding and fell off of it, plummeting nearly 16 feet. The man was experiencing severe pain in his left arm, but his condition was left untreated and, further, he never even received a diagnosis until six hours after having entered the hospital, even though his wife made repeated requests for a doctor to examine him. Unfortunately, the man developed “compartment syndrome” in the time that he was left undiagnosed. In this syndrome, swelling from the injury became so extreme that it compressed nerves, blood vessels and muscles in that specific compartment of his body.

The arm’s blood vessels could not deliver oxygen to his arm, which resulted in both his muscles and nerve cells being destroyed forever. Since then, he has gone through several surgeries, but, unfortunately, he was only left with a deformed, useless limb, he says. When Maryland residents have a valid medical malpractice case such as this one, they typically choose to file a medical malpractice suit to make up for documented damages and possible future expenses. This process typically begins when one consults an experienced medical malpractice attorney.

Source: peninsuladailynews.com, “Port Angeles man awarded $1.5 million in medical negligence verdict”, Paul Gottlieb, Dec. 25, 2015