December

532. Carpenter v. South River Family Medicine (filed December 1, 2017): A man collapsed and died at home the morning after he had been incorrectly diagnosed with the flu. His complaints of fatigue, dizziness, dark-colored loose stools, uncontrolled blood sugar levels, and pale skin had actually been symptomatic of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.
533. Roberts v. Johns Hopkins Hospital (filed December 1, 2017): A woman’s bowel was perforated during her C-section. The perforation wasn’t discovered until one week after the procedure, during which time fluid and small bowel contents had leaked into her abdominal cavity and caused a severe infection.
534. Clark v. MEP Health (filed December 4, 2017): When a woman presented to the emergency department she was assessed as lethargic, bradycardic, non-verbal and unresponsive, but the possibility of a stroke was not seriously considered. The woman eventually had a severe stroke in the hospital and was transferred to another facility for treatment.
535. Bellehu v. Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (filed December 4, 2017): A delay in diagnosing a woman’s subdural hematoma after she tripped and fell had a catastrophic effect on her neurologic functioning. She passed away before any invasive treatment could be implemented.
536. Kashim v. Howard County General Hospital (filed December 5, 2017): A man was discharged from the hospital even though he was experiencing facial numbness, tingling, diplopia, and dizziness – the textbook symptoms of an impending stroke. He eventually underwent a left-sided hemicraniectomy, but the delay in diagnosis and treatment caused a cognitive disability.
537. Bukowski v. Collingswood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (filed December 5, 2017): A woman suffered a series of urinary tract infections while residing at the nursing home. She was never properly treated and her infections progressed to the life-threatening conditions of septicemia and pyelonephritis.
538. Brotman v. Lorien Life Center (filed December 5, 2017): A man fractured his hip during a fall in his nursing home. His health declined as a result of the fall until his untimely death.
539. Curtis v. Johns Hopkins Hospital (filed December 6, 2017): A girl’s surgical team decided to go ahead with her spinal fusion surgery despite the fact that the somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) were unreliable. SSEP tests measure the electrical activity between the body and the brain, allowing surgeons to anticipate potential problems before they become catastrophic. Performing spinal surgery without SSEP tests is like operating blind. The surgical team misplaced instrumentation into the girl’s spinal cord and the anesthesia team mismanaged the girl’s fluid requirements, making her more vulnerable to ischemic injury. As a result of the combined negligence, the girl suffered nerve damage and permanent disability.
540. Weaver v. Meritus Medical Center (filed December 6, 2017): A physician failed to diagnose cervical cancer when a woman presented to the emergency department with concerns about bleeding. The woman returned to the hospital and was diagnosed five months later, but at that point, her cancer had progressed to a more advanced stage.
541. Timmons v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States (filed December 6, 2017): While delivering a baby, the physician used a vacuum extractor too early, forcibly pulling the unborn baby down the birth canal while rotating the baby’s head and body. The improper usage of the vacuum extractor created a shoulder dystocia, causing the baby to suffer a brachial plexus injury.
542. Jones v. University of Maryland Medical Center (filed December 6, 2017): Physicians encountered a shoulder dystocia while delivering a baby. The appropriate maneuvers were not utilized without using excessive force, and the baby was born with a brachial plexus injury.
543. Spedden v. Chesapeake Obstetrics (filed December 6, 2017): A woman in the process of labor and delivery was administered Pitocin to strengthen the force of her contractions. Her physicians, knowing that Pitocin can cause hyperstimulation of the uterus, continued to increase her dosage of Pitocin even though her baby was showing signs of early decelerations. Physicians belatedly performed a C-section and the baby was born with cerebral palsy and severe cognitive disabilities.
544. Shelton v. The Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center (filed December 6, 2017): Over the course of a year, a woman sought treatment for right foot pain. During that time, her physicians did nothing to assess the reason why the wound on her right fifth toe was slow healing. Eventually, the woman saw a vascular surgeon, who diagnosed her with a terrible tibia disease. The vascular surgeon attempted several salvage bypass procedures, but ultimately the woman underwent a below the knee amputation.
545. Myers v. Vascular Surgery Associates (filed December 7, 2017): A woman died of hemorrhagic shock after her physicians failed to notice and address her critical symptoms. She had initially presented with an occluded femoral bypass graft, but her doctors never recognized the full extent of her postoperative blood loss.
546. Parran v. Holly Hill (filed December 7, 2017): A woman developed hypotension, a urinary tract infection, severe dehydration, and acute kidney failure while she was a Holly Hill resident. As a consequence of these avoidable injuries, the woman’s health deteriorated until her death.
547. Montgomery v. Mercy Medical Center (filed December 7, 2017): A woman presented to the emergency room with clear signs of systemic inflammatory response syndrome, but her healthcare providers never obtained an abdominal CT and she was discharged. The woman returned three days later with obvious symptoms of severe sepsis. Her physicians still failed to perform the appropriate therapy in a timely manner, and she ultimately died of gallbladder inflammation and septic shock.
548. Martin v. Carroll Hospital Center (filed December 8, 2017): A physician improperly intubated a man’s esophagus rather than his trachea, provoking vomiting and causing his oxygen levels to drop. Eventually, the physician appropriately placed an endotracheal tube, but the man had already suffered a prolonged period of hypoxia and died as a result.
549. Morris-Washington v. Metro Spine Pain Centers (filed December 8, 2017): Shortly after Kaiser fired a doctor for sexual misconduct, Metro Spine hired him to practice pain management medicine. Metro Spine should have known about the doctor’s history of sexual misconduct, but they never assigned him a chaperone or put protective measures in place for their patients, and the doctor inappropriately touched one of his patients at Metro Spine.
550. Jones v. Total Health Care (filed December 8, 2017): Physicians did not recognize a woman’s complaints of constipation and blood in her stool as the symptoms of colorectal cancer until it had substantially progressed. The woman now has to wear a permanent colostomy.
551. Rosenberger v. Prince George’s Hospital Center (filed December 8, 2017): Because her physicians failed to address her symptoms and obtain blood cultures, a woman suffered prolonged sepsis, leading to prolonged hypertension and decreased blood flow to the optic nerve. As a result, the woman sustained permanent vision loss.
552. Vandyke v. University of Maryland Emergency Medicine Associates (filed December 11, 2017): A physician incorrectly diagnosed a woman with an abscess when she was actually suffering from Fournier’s gangrene. Due to the delay in proper diagnosis, the woman required multiple surgical procedures and is now disfigured and disabled.
553. Johnson v. Future Care – Pineview (filed December 11, 2017): Even though a man was under doctor’s orders to have a puree diet, nursing home staff provided him with a pasta lunch. The man choked on the food, went into cardiac arrest, and died.
554. Jackson-Proctor v. NMS Healthcare of Hyattsville (filed December 11, 2017): While under the care of a nursing facility, a woman developed and suffered from a sacral pressure sore, sepsis, severe dehydration, malnutrition, and anemia. Her conditions arose due to inadequate care and they ultimately contributed to her death.
555. Waltermyer v. Jackson (filed December 11, 2017): A woman was suffering from an early stage of cancer on the left side of her tongue, requiring timely diagnosis and treatment. The woman’s dentist pointed out the abnormality but did nothing to effectively evaluate her condition. By the time the woman saw a specialist and was properly diagnosed, her cancer had progressed to a point where she required disfiguring surgery and is at risk for a metastasis.
556. Ketterman v. Khalil (filed December 11, 2017): A primary care physician should have required a man to undergo screening for colon cancer beginning at age 50, but he had never been screened by the time he was 58. The man sought another opinion when he began experiencing digestive difficulties, and a needle biopsy confirmed stage four colon cancer. If the appropriate screening had been completed in a timely fashion, an early polyp would have been discovered and removed and the colon cancer could have been prevented.
557. Croswell v. The Center for Advanced Fetal Care (filed December 11, 2017): A woman underwent ultrasounds and noninvasive prenatal testing, which indicated fetal abnormalities including cardiac and kidney defects, but never indicated brain or skull abnormalities. The woman was assured that the abnormalities could be corrected after delivery. The baby, however, was born with multiple congenital anomalies and currently suffers from severe brain injury, cognitive dysfunction, inability to walk and talk, respiratory failure, and feeding intolerance.
558. Powell v. Hartsuch (filed December 11, 2017): A woman was having a normal and healthy pregnancy when her doctor misread a blood test. The actual human chronic gonadotropin (HCG) level was 50,297, indicative of a healthy fetus, but the doctor incorrectly interpreted the HCG level as 5,000, which, if accurate, would have indicated a miscarriage. In light of the misinterpreted blood test, the healthy fetus was extracted. The woman later reviewed her online chart and discovered the unfortunate mistake.
559. Scales v. Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (filed December 12, 2017): In this class action claim, a doctor was negligently employed at Kaiser even though he had a history of sexually abusing his female patients. The doctor inappropriately touched multiple women on Kaiser’s watch, and yet Kaiser never assigned a chaperone, removed him from clinical practice, or otherwise ensured that he was not a danger to his patients.
560. Gregory v. Plastic Surgery Specialists (filed December 12, 2017): The anesthesiologist damaged a woman’s vocal cords when he was attempting to intubate her during surgery. As a result, the woman experiences airway pain and swelling, the loss of her voice, and the need for additional procedures.
561. McKenny v. Charles Emergency Physicians (filed December 12, 2017): Despite the fact that a woman presented to the emergency room with left sided flank pain and difficulty breathing, and that pregnant patients are at significantly increased risk for thromboembolic disease, the woman’s physicians failed to recognize her thromboembolic symptoms and predisposition. The woman was discharged home without appropriate care and treatment. Five days later the woman experienced severe respiratory distress, suffered a full cardiopulmonary arrest, and died.
562. Osorio v. Simmonds, Martin & Helmbrecht (filed December 13, 2017): Physicians failed to continuously monitor the fetus during labor and delivery, and failed to recognize when the fetal heart rate was not properly being monitored. The woman belatedly underwent a C-section, and her baby died shortly after birth.
563. Guerrero v. University of Maryland Community Medical Group (filed December 13, 2017): A woman’s esophagus was lacerated during her spinal surgery. Her surgeon should have known that the procedure would be difficult due to her extensive scar tissue, but he failed to take the necessary precautions.
564. Toomer v. Wexford Health Source (filed December 13, 2017): An inmate was in pain after surgery to correct his fractured leg, but his physician refused to prescribe any pain medication.
565. Walker v. Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (filed December 14, 2017): During an oophorectomy procedure, the operating physician injured a woman’s bowel. The woman suffered a severe postoperative infection, requiring extensive hospitalizations, surgeries, and medical treatment.
566. Sukie v. Prince George’s Hospital Center (filed December 14, 2017): A baby’s brain was deprived of oxygen during the labor and delivery process and he suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.
567. Hofferbert v. University of Maryland Harford Memorial Hospital (filed December 14, 2017): A man fell down the stairs and heard a pop in both knees. His physicians at the emergency department sent him to a rehabilitation facility without giving him a proper evaluation. Four weeks after the fall, the man was sent to a different hospital where it was discovered that tendons in both knees had ruptured. The man underwent bilateral quadriceps tendon repairs, but the repairs failed due to the delay in treatment. He will be wheelchair bound for the rest of his life.
568. Jordan v. HCR Manor Care (filed December 15, 2017): Due to physical and mental impairments, a man was classified as a fall risk at his nursing home; however, the nurse’s notes did not indicate that any fall risk protocols were in place. The man fell and sustained injuries as a result of the fall.
569. Dwyer v. Goldberg, Rosenstein, Khan & Foreman (filed December 15, 2017): A woman went to her gastroenterologist for routine colonoscopies, but the doctor did not detect the mass on her colon. She later presented to the emergency room with pain in her side, and it was discovered that she had stage four colon cancer with a poor prognosis. She passed away six months after her cancer diagnosis.
570. Petrick v. Johns Hopkins Community Physicians (filed December 18, 2017): During surgery, doctors lacerated a woman’s common bile duct.
571. Weaver v. Cumberland Healthcare Center (filed December 18, 2017): Despite evidence of a worsening pressure sore, a woman was never provided with appropriate treatments or preventative measures.
572. Stephens v. Doctor’s Emergency Services (filed December 18, 2017): A woman was discharged from Baltimore Washing Medical Center even though she was experiencing vaginal swelling, chest pain, shortness of breath, fever, chills, ear ache, eye problems, and nausea. All of these signs and symptoms are suggestive of something more serious than a normal cold. The next day she went to Anne Arundel Medical Center because she had difficulty swallowing and could not eat or drink. After noting the woman’s pruritic rash with blisters and skin sloughing, she was belatedly transferred to the burn unit with suspected Steven Johnson’s Syndrome. Her skin is now discolored, she is totally blind in both eyes, and she has heart and respiratory problems as a result of delayed medical care.
573. Trotter-Williams v. Morningside House of St. Charles (filed December 18, 2017): While residing at the nursing home, a woman fell from her bed to the ground. In the fall she broke her nose and fractured her neck bone, which caused swelling in her face and bleeding in her brain. She later died from complications of the fall.
574. Turner v. Meritus Medical Center (filed December 19, 2017): A man was prematurely discharged from the hospital after he suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA – when blood flow to part of his brain was reduced). Two days later he was re-admitted to the hospital after suffering a significant stroke. His doctors should have recognized that the TIA was a warning sign of an imminent stroke and taken the necessary precautions.
575. Goodman v. Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group (filed December 19, 2017): A man died of a blockage in his lungs soon after he underwent surgery. His high-risk factors for a blood clot in his deep veins, including diabetes, high BMI, major surgery, and immobilization, were not adequately appreciated or treated.
576. Custer v. Frederick Memorial Hospital (filed December 19, 2017): A physician failed to order a CT scan when a woman was experiencing abdominal pain after the placement of a suprapubic catheter. She was exhibiting all the symptoms of a small bowel injury, a known complication of suprapubic catheter placement, and yet she was not properly treated. The woman ultimately died of septic shock.
577. Shuman v. Plastic Surgery Institute of Washington (filed December 19, 2017): Physicians botched a breast implant surgery when venous congestion eventually resulted in necrosis. The woman has since required breast reconstruction, nipple reconstruction, and tattooing to restore coloration.
578. McCoy v. Odunukwe (filed December 20, 2017): After undergoing eye surgery to remove cataracts and insert interocular lenses, a woman was experiencing irritation in her left eye. The surgeon had inserted her lens upside down, necessitating that the original lens be removed and a new one inserted.
579. Boyle v. Johns Hopkins Hospital (filed December 21, 2017): During the course of a procedure to correct a woman’s irregular heart rate, surgeons damaged an atrial appendage and artery. The woman developed respiratory failure and died as a result of her surgeons’ negligence.
580. McKnight v. Annapolis Radiology Associates (filed December 21, 2017): A radiologist misinterpreted a woman’s abdominal CT scan, missing soft tissue stranding which is normally a helpful diagnostic sign for patients with abdominal pain. The woman later went to another medical institution, where she was finally diagnosed with soft tissue stranding surrounding an abdominal aorta. She required emergency surgery to repair her ruptured aorta, which would not have been necessary if her condition had been discovered during the first CT.
581. McKenny v. Cumberland Anesthesia & Pain Management (filed December 21, 2017): Anesthesiologists failed to properly monitor a man’s blood pressure, oxygenation levels, and fluid loss during a surgery to remove his rectal cancer. When the man woke up after surgery, he was paralyzed from the waist down.
582. Weiner v. The Plastic Surgery Center of Maryland (filed December 21, 2017): In this surgical malpractice claim, a woman experienced complications after liposuction. She was eventually diagnosed with a bacterial infection.
583. Johnson-Eaton v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States (filed December 21, 2017): When physicians noticed calcifications in a woman’s breast during a mammogram, they assumed the calcifications were benign without performing the proper diagnostic tests. Nearly three years later, it was discovered that the woman had metastatic breast cancer. If the woman had been diagnosed and treated earlier she would have a greater chance of survival.
584. Roberts v. Plastic Surgery of Greater Washington (filed December 22, 2017): After a woman was discharged following a liposuction surgery, she was found dead in her home. An autopsy revealed a blood clot blocking the arteries in her lungs.
585. Mosley v. Mercy Medical Center (filed December 22, 2017): Before he was delivered via C-section, a baby breathed a large amount of meconium into his lungs. He later died from complications which led to severe pulmonary and cerebral hemorrhage.
586. Jones v. Bon Secours Hospital Baltimore (filed December 22, 2017): A man’s nasogastric tube fell out of his stomach prior to his bowel resection surgery and was never replaced. Just before surgery, the man vomited and breathed in some of the vomit. His physicians went ahead with intubation, anesthesia, and the bowel resection procedure. The vomit in his lungs led to aspiration pneumonia and the man remained hospitalized for the next year due to complications.
587. Smith v. Northwest Hospital Center (filed December 22, 2017): After presenting to the emergency department with severe abdominal pain, a woman was given an ultrasound which showed a mass near her uterus. Her doctors assumed the mass represented an ectopic pregnancy and prescribed her methotrexate. Two days later at a different hospital, a CT scan revealed a complex cystic mass which had grown since the ultrasound. The woman developed critical neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and myelosuppression, and she was diagnosed with methotrexate toxicity. She continued to suffer from gastrointestinal, nasal, and gingival bleeding, skin ulcerations, and sepsis until she died in the hospital one month later.
588. Stein v. Western Maryland Regional Medical Center (filed December 22, 2017): A woman underwent chemotherapy, including Taxotere, Carboplatin, Herceptin, and Perjeta, to treat her breast cancer, as recommended by her doctor. Following chemo, the woman began to suffer from diarrhea, fatigue, and neurological symptoms. She obtained a second opinion, and it was determined that the chemotherapy she underwent was much too harsh considering the early stage of her cancer. As a result of improper treatment, the woman will continue to suffer from neuropathy, nausea, skin irritation, memory loss, bowel disorders, decreased life expectancy, and a variety of other symptoms.
589. Harrell v. Clinton Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (filed December 26, 2017): A woman died of an infected sacral ulcer while she was residing at the nursing home.
590. Mosby v. Greater Metropolitan Orthopaedics (filed December 28, 2017): A woman developed a post-operative infection after her right total knee replacement. The infection was not timely diagnosed or properly treated.
591. Williams v. Alice Manor Adult Medical Daycare (filed December 28, 2017): A staff member negligently administered the wrong medication to a man in her care. The man received a dangerous overdose of methadone, a drug with long-lasting respiratory effects. He underwent a long hospitalization, during which time he suffered from low oxygen saturation, altered mental status, and difficulty swallowing. After discharge, he continues to experience extremity weakness and relies on a walker to ambulate.
592. Ruggieri v. The Washington TMJ & Sleep Therapy Center (filed December 28, 2017): A dentist negligently removed a man’s healthy tooth and replaced it with an ill-fitting implant. The poor implant caused problems with neighboring teeth and made chewing difficult.
593. Henry v. Potomac Valley Nursing and Wellness Center (filed December 28, 2017): A woman was administered unnecessary antipsychotic medication, causing her to experience known and dangerous side-effects such as seizures, blood clots, and muscle rigidity.
594. Wagner v. Mahboob (filed December 28, 2017): An inmate suffered injuries to his right eye and hand during an officer-on-prisoner assault, but no medical treatment was provided. He continued to experience blood in his stool and vomit, nerve damage, and back, spine, and shoulder spasms.
595. Chi v. Adventist Healthcare (filed December 29, 2017): A woman sustained second degree burns to her upper chest when her healthcare providers failed to remove the metal clips from her EKG before beginning her MRI. Even though she reported sharp burning pains to the MRI technician, he refused to halt the procedure.
596. Busby v. Main Street Pediatrics (filed December 29, 2017): A pediatrician failed to recognize that a baby was suffering from an infection. The ring that had been visible around the baby’s belly button during her newborn check spread into a full-body rash with skin blistering, draining redness, and weeping; and yet the pediatrician still did not appreciate the severity of the baby’s condition. Eventually, the baby was sent to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome. The baby suffered a brain bleed and ongoing sepsis, and she will continue to suffer from delays in development due to brain injury.
597. White v. Allegany Surgical Associates (filed December 29, 2017): When removing a potentially cancerous tumor from a woman’s forearm, the physician negligently left tissue behind. The tissue metastasized, and multiple nodules were found in the woman’s lungs. If the tumor had been properly excised in the first place, the woman would likely be cancer-free instead of facing an ominous prognosis.
598. Mackell v. Wexford Health Sources (filed December 29, 2017): An orthopedic surgery malpractice case filed by an incarcerated inmate.

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