Maryland Injury and Disability Law : Washington DC Metro Injury & Disability Lawyer & Attorney : Greenberg & Bederman : Accidents, Falls, Medical Malpractice : Maryland, DC, Virginia

What follows is a list of what makes a patient in Maryland properly informed.

The information should be in writing: Every aspect of your procedure should be written down, and all of it should be properly communicated to you by your doctor. If you simply get handed some documents with no explanation and are told to read it and sign, then you haven’t been properly informed. There is no way that someone with no medical training can be expected to fully understand everything that will be done during a surgery. The doctor or surgeon should give you a thorough verbal briefing of everything that will happen in conjunction with any documents that you are given to sign.

You should be told exactly what the procedure will involve: How long will this procedure last? Who will be performing the surgery? Will the anesthetic be local or general? How long is the recovery time? Will the recovery be painful, and if so, how painful? What exactly will the surgeons be doing during the surgery? Where are they going to cut? How big will the scar be? All of these questions should be answered as clearly as possible. If your surgeon flashes you a winning smile and little information, find yourself another one.

You should be told how a successful surgery would benefit you: There shouldn’t be anything vague about an operation, nor should there be anything that you don’t understand completely. That includes the results. Will you be back to normal after the operation, or even better? What can you expect as an outcome if things go well, or if things go poorly? Otherwise, what is the point of going through all of this?

You should be told what the chances are of the procedure being successful: No surgery is a guaranteed success. A successful surgery depends on the skill of the physician, the condition of the patient, what sort of procedure is taking place, and any number of unquantifiable things. The people responsible for your care took all of this into account before deciding that you were a candidate for surgery. But what might seem like favorable odds to them might not seem that way to you. Nor should these odds be understated or exaggerated. Remember, a surgery is a voluntary procedure. No one can force you to undergo an operation.

You should be told what other non-surgical options, if any, are available: In many cases, cutting you open is one of the options, and not the only option. If a patient has any other opportunities for treatment, it is the duty of the medical staff to tell them what they are.

You should be told how minimal or substantial the risks are: This is extremely important. Of course there are risks to any sort of surgery, but some are riskier than others. For instance, if you are getting an ingrown toenail handled, there risks are indeed minimal. But if you are having an arterial splint put in, then obviously the risks are much greater. What your doctor owes you is an honest assessment of any risks or dangers that are involved in your treatment, no matter how minimal they might be.

All of this information should be explained to you verbally and put in writing, and you must agree to be operated on before you undergo any surgical procedure. If there are elements that you don’t understand, ask that they explain again.

Another important thing for you to remember is that if you agree to a procedure, you are agreeing to that and nothing else. A surgeon cannot do anything except what you have agreed upon. Unless he sees something that will immediately place your life in danger, he or she has no right to poke around in there. There are many reasons for this. The first is that surgeries are a costly business, and your insurance company is looking for any reason to pay as little as possible. If the surgeon does something beyond what was agreed upon by you and the insurance company, the costs will be passed on to you. The second reason is that such practices are dangerous. A surgeon might be completely prepared for your operation, but it can be assumed that he or she didn’t prepare for anything else. A mistake is a likely occurrence during any operation, and if your surgeon is straying into an area that he or she is not completely familiar with, the odds of a drastic and harmful mistake become more and more likely.

Greenberg and Bederman is rated AV by Martindale Hubbell for Ethical conduct and professional excellence. Greenberg & Bederman is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which is limited to trial lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional skill, experience and excellence in advocacy by achieving a trial verdict, award or settlement in the amount of One Million Dollars or more.  One of our main practice areas is helping those who have been injured due to medical malpractice in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. If you or a loved one in Maryland, the District of Columbia or Northern Virginia has been injured due to a medical malpractice surgical error, or a wrong or late medical diagnosis, contact Greenberg and Bederman for afree legal consultation today.

If you want to learn more about medical malpractice issues, please visit our medical malpractice page. If you want to learn more about our medical malpractice lawyer, John Sellinger, please read about him or watch his medical malpractice video.

If you feel that you are suffering from not having been properly informed about your surgery, or if you feel that your surgeon went beyond what you agreed to, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.

There are a number of serious concerns about safety standards and quality of care in the medical profession. Surgical errors may occur, but a surgical error does not necessarily mean that a malpractice has been performed. Medical malpractice or medical negligence (a form of professional error) is when a doctor fails to adhere to a professional level of standard of care. To bring a medical malpractice lawsuit in Maryland, another physician in the same field of medicine must certify the claim. A Plaintiff’s expert will review the relevant medical records and certify that the plaintiff's health care provider deviated from accepted medical practices, which resulted in injury to the plaintiff. The plaintiff's attorney then files the certificate of merit, which confirms that the attorney has consulted with a medical expert and that the plaintiff's action has merit. The certificate of merit contains three elements: 1) Where the doctor is licensed to practice; 2) An opinion within reasonable degree of probability that the treating doctor departed from the applicable standard of care in treating the plaintiff, and that there was damage from the breach of the appropriate standard of care; 3) That the doctor does not devote annually more than twenty percent of his professional activities to testimony in personal injury claims. 
 

 Other states have similar rules. In Virginia, the plaintiff in a medical malpractice suit is required, except in some limited circumstances, to obtain a written opinion from an expert witness, stating that based upon a reasonable understanding of the facts, the healthcare provider deviated from the applicable standard of care and the deviation caused the plaintiff’s injury. This certification is not necessary if the alleged act of negligence clearly lies within the range of the jury's common knowledge and experience. The Virginia Medical Malpractice Act provides for a system of medical malpractice review panels to assess the validity of medical malpractice claims. At the request of either party, the Supreme Court of Virginia appoints a panel to review the claim, consisting of two doctors, two lawyers, and a chairman. The panel determines whether the evidence supports the conclusion that the health care provider failed to comply with the relevant standard of care and whether that failure proximately caused the injury. The findings of the panel are non-binding and the claimant has the option of filing a lawsuit after the panel has made its ruling. However, any opinion of the medical review panel is admissible as evidence in a subsequent action.
In Washington, D.C. the plaintiff in a medical malpractice claim must present expert witnesses because the technical complexity of the facts and issues usually prevents the jury itself from determining whether the defendant's conduct conformed to the standard of care. There can be no finding of negligence without expert testimony to support it.
According to a study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), nearly $1.5 billion could be saved every year by preventing surgical errors. The study examined insurance data from more than 161,000 patients enrolled in health plans through their employer and who had a surgical procedure between 2001 and 2002. According to the study findings, insurers paid an additional (per patient): $19,480 for post-operative infections, $28,218 for acute respiratory failure, $12,196 for nursing care associated with medical errors, $11,797 metabolic problems linked to medical errors, $7,838 for blood clots and related problems linked to medical errors, $1,426 for wound openings associated with medical errors. The study also revealed that preventable medical errors were responsible for 10 percent of patient deaths occurring within three months of the surgical procedure.