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Here’s a link to Oklahoma Senator (and physician) Tom Coburn’s recent report on his investigation of Veterans’ Administration hospitals.  According to Senator Coburn, “Over the past decade, more than 1,000 veterans may have died as a result of the VA’s misconduct and the VA has paid out nearly $1 billion to veterans and their families for its medical malpractice.” Here at SCBMA we are often asked to investigate, and do pursue cases against our local Baltimore VA Hospital, as well as at area military medical . . . Continue Reading

A few days ago, the Baltimore Sun reported on the under-reporting of serious medical errors, known by hospitals as “preventable adverse events,” and which, according to a recent journal article for doctors published in the Journal of Patient Safety , kill more than 400,000 Americans every year (and seriously injure 10-20 times as many). According to the Journal of Patient Safety article: “[O]ur country is distinguished for its patchwork of medical care subsystems that can require patients to bounce around a complex maze of providers as they seek . . . Continue Reading

Many keystrokes have been typed about General Motors’ faulty ignition switches and the tragic deaths of at least thirteen people who died when their airbags failed to deploy because of the defect.  Yesterday, GM released the report of its own internal investigation, performed by Anton R. Valukas.  Mr. Valukas and his team made many interesting findings and I expect we will write more postings about the report and its importance to our practice.  The most interesting finding to us, though, related to the role . . . Continue Reading

Maryland’s Court of Appeals recently ruled that a trial court judge did not abuse his discretion in excluding the standard of care testimony of a plaintiff’s expert pharmacist in an informed consent case involving the cancer treatment drug Amifostine.  The Court of Appeals majority opinion in Shannon v. Fusco  overturned a previous ruling by Maryland’s intermediate appellate court that held the pharmacist’s testimony should have been admitted.

An exculpatory clause is a contractual provision that relieves a party from liability for any future negligent or wrongful act.  Maryland has long recognized that these clauses are valid and that two adults may contractually agree that one or more parties will not be liable for their own negligence.  Recently, however, the Court of Appeals of Maryland has taken this principle one step further and held that parents may sign an exculpatory clause on behalf of their minor children—in essence—agreeing . . . Continue Reading

In addition to our beloved, if not stylish, yellow taxi cabs, road travelers in Baltimore now have several other options for getting from Point A to Point B locally: smartphone “taxi” companies Lyft and Uber .  Both started in San Francisco, Lyft and Uber are internet-based car companies that allow users to view nearby vehicles on a map on their smartphone, request one — and pay for it via credit card.  Lyft technically does not even charge for rides, but rather, accepts . . . Continue Reading