Surgical Malpractice Lawsuit in Baltimore County

Engels v. University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Group

This is a surgical malpractice lawsuit in Baltimore County filed by a woman after her doctor slices through her urethra and bladder during a procedure. It was filed in Health Claims Arbitration on April 11, 2017 and it is the 169^th medical malpractice case filed in Maryland in 2017.

Summary of Plaintiff's Allegations

Defendant diagnoses plaintiff with having stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and long, heavy periods. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is an unintentional loss of urine that occurs when such things as running, laughing, sneezing or coughing puts pressure on the bladder. SUI impacts as many as 80% of American women at some point in their lives. The biggest risk factor for UTI is age. Other risk factors for SUI include childbirth, pregnancy, age, menopause, smoking, obesity, constipation, lifting, race, and pelvic organ prolapse.

Defendant attempts to perform a sling procedure to treat her. Vaginal sling procedures are increasingly common - and have been a frequent source of product liability lawsuits. In this case, the focus is on the doctor's care during the procedure Allegedly, the defendant negligently cuts through the woman's urethra and bladder.

The woman files this claim due to serious medical complications and the necessity for subsequent surgeries that arose from defendant's negligent care.

Additional Comments

• The defense to this case is going to be the perforation occurs in 5-25% of these surgeries and it an accepted risk of the procedure. In fact, many of these claims involve the failure to recognize and treat the perforation. The complaint here does not give us enough facts to draw any conclusions about the details.
• This is one of the shortest malpractice complaints you will ever see. Plaintiff's lawyer used excessively large fonts, but the complaint itself is terse. The case was filed three days before the statute of limitations passed. This makes you wonder if the lawsuit was not filed merely to explore whether there is a viable malpractice case.
• There is also an informed consent count. Intraoperative complications included bladder perforation (rates as high as 25% in one study), nerve lesion (uncommon), and bleeding, including cases of vascular injury (rates ranging from 0.1% to 2.5%)
• There is no question that the perforation rate is correlated with surgical experience. There is significant variability in intraoperative complication rates for these vaginal sling procedures.

Jurisdiction

• Baltimore County

Defendants

• An OB at St. Joseph's
• Lubman M.D., LLC
• University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Group, LLC

Hospitals Where Patient was Treated

• University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Group, LLC

Negligence

• Negligently dissecting so to cut into the plaintiff's urethra and bladder
• Negligently informing to obtain adequate informed consent as defendant failed to provide sufficient alternatives and provide risks of the proposed procedure

Plaintiff's Experts and Areas Of Specialty

• None at this time

Getting a Lawyer for Your Surgical Malpractice Claim

Miller & Zois has a long history of large verdicts and settlements in medical malpractice cases in Maryland. If you have suffered an injury due to the negligence of a doctor, call us today at (800) 553-8082 or get an online case consultation.

More Malpractice Claim Information

• Read about another case filed in 2017 alleging a tear during surgery, this one a colonoscopy malpractice case
• Take a look at the potential value of your surgical malpractice case
• Read about an IV infiltration injury case filed against St. Joseph in 2016
• Another case filed against St. Joseph, this one alleging the failure to diagnose and treat a sudden death heart arrhythmia

---