Medical malpractice claims are different from other injury cases. Maryland puts procedural requirements in front of them, the medical questions need physician review, and hospitals and their insurers defend these cases hard. That is why many firms turn them away.
Blank Kim Injury Law handles medical negligence claims across Maryland, with a focus on missed and delayed diagnoses, surgical and medication errors, and injuries to mothers and babies at delivery. If you are unsure whether what happened counts as malpractice, that is the question a case review answers.
What counts as medical malpractice in Maryland
Medicine carries risk, and not every disappointing result is negligence. A malpractice claim generally requires four things:
- A provider relationship. The doctor, nurse, hospital or practice owed you a duty of care.
- A departure from the standard of care. The care fell below what a competent provider in that field would have done in the same situation.
- Causation. That failure caused the injury, rather than the underlying illness alone.
- Damages. There is real harm: added treatment, permanent injury, lost income or a death.
Causation is usually where these cases are won or lost. A patient who was already seriously ill may have had a poor outcome regardless, and the defense will say so. Proving the difference takes the medical records and physicians willing to review them.
Types of medical malpractice claims we handle
- Diagnostic failures. Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis and delayed cancer diagnosis, where a treatable condition progressed while it went unrecognized.
- Emergency department errors. Mistakes in the ER, including patients sent home with symptoms of a heart attack, stroke or sepsis.
- Surgical errors. Injuries during surgery, wrong-site procedures and retained items.
- Medication errors. Wrong drug, wrong dose or a missed interaction, in hospitals, pharmacies and nursing homes.
- Birth injuries. Harm to a baby or mother during labor and delivery, including cerebral palsy linked to oxygen deprivation.
- Fatal malpractice. When a patient dies, the family may have a wrongful death claim alongside a survival claim.
Claims also arise in nursing homes, surgical centers, clinics and dental offices. If your situation is not listed here, ask us.
The certificate of qualified expert, and why cases start at HCADRO
Maryland does not let a malpractice case proceed on the patient's say-so. Two requirements shape the start of almost every claim:
- A certificate of a qualified expert. A qualifying medical professional must certify that the care departed from the standard of care and caused the injury. It is filed within a set period after the claim begins, and without it the case can be dismissed.
- The Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office. Maryland malpractice claims are filed with HCADRO first. In most cases the parties waive arbitration and the case moves to circuit court, but the filing step still has to be done correctly.
Maryland also limits who can serve as that expert. A physician who spends too much of their professional time testifying can be disqualified, so the review has to come from a practicing provider in the right field. Finding and paying those reviewers is part of what a firm takes on when it accepts a malpractice case.
How long you have to file a malpractice claim in Maryland
Malpractice deadlines run differently from ordinary injury claims. In general, a Maryland claim must be filed within five years of the injury, or within three years of the date the injury was discovered, whichever comes first.
Claims for children follow their own rules, and those rules can extend the time for an injury that happened at birth or in early childhood. Claims against a government hospital or clinic can require written notice much sooner.
Because the discovery date is often disputed, do not wait to find out where you stand. Start a free case review and we will look at the dates that apply to your situation.
What a Maryland malpractice claim can include
- Past and future medical care, including surgery, therapy and equipment
- Lost income and lost earning capacity
- The cost of care a family provides at home
- Pain, suffering and disability
- Losses to the family when a patient dies
Maryland caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, and that cap is separate from the one in ordinary injury cases. It is adjusted each year, and wrongful death claims with more than one surviving family member are treated differently. Economic losses, such as medical bills and lost wages, are proven with records and expert analysis. Past results in other cases do not predict the outcome of yours.
How we investigate a medical malpractice claim
- Free case review. Tell us what happened, who treated you and when you learned something was wrong.
- Records. We collect the complete medical record, including nursing notes, imaging, lab results and the billing record, which often shows what was ordered and when.
- Physician review. Qualifying physicians in the right specialty review the care and tell us whether it met the standard and what the failure caused.
- Certificate and filing. If the review supports a claim, we prepare the certificate of qualified expert and file within the deadlines.
- Litigation. Malpractice cases are defended seriously. We prepare them to be tried, and we keep you informed at each stage.
You can talk with our team in English, Korean or Spanish.
