Category: Medical Malpractice

At D’Amore Personal Injury Law, we have investigated and handled thousands of medical malpractice claims throughout Baltimore, Washington, DC, and across Maryland. According to the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, as many as 1 in every 25 hospital patients is harmed by a medical error—and between 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year due to preventable medical mistakes.

Medical malpractice cases are a type of civil negligence involving healthcare providers such as doctors, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, pharmacists, and hospital staff. All healthcare professionals are legally required to follow a defined standard of care when treating patients. When they fail to meet that standard, they may be considered negligent. However, to bring a successful malpractice claim, it must also be shown that this negligence directly caused injury or damage. This legal principle is called “proximate cause,” and it’s often one of the more complex aspects of a malpractice case.

We often use a simple analogy to help our clients understand this concept: If a driver runs a stop sign, they are negligent. But unless that action causes a collision or injury, there is no civil claim. The same applies to medical malpractice—if a healthcare provider fails to order a test or administer medication at the right time, that may be negligent, but there is no claim unless the patient is harmed as a result. In many instances, we investigate potential malpractice cases and find that, while the standard of care was violated, no actual injury or damage occurred.

From the very first consultation, we make it clear to our clients: to win a medical malpractice case, we must prove both negligence and injury that was directly caused by that negligence.

In Maryland, like in many other states, malpractice claims follow a formal legal process. Before a lawsuit can proceed in court, it must first go through a mandatory arbitration process. This includes filing a Certificate of a Qualified Expert and an accompanying Report, in which a medical professional reviews the case and confirms that the care provided did not meet the accepted standard. Once this requirement is fulfilled, the case can move forward in the civil court system like other personal injury claims.