What Constitutes Medical Malpractice in Maryland?
Maryland’s Health Care Malpractice Claims Act (the “Act”), codified in Maryland Code Annotated, Courts. & Judicial Proceedings §§ 3-2A-01 et seq., governs the legal procedure for medical malpractice cases. In these suits, the central issue is whether the healthcare provider failed to meet the applicable standard of care, with § 3-2A-02(c)(1) governing certain procedural and evidentiary requirements in medical malpractice actions.
At Price Benowitz, we understand how Maryland’s elaborate statutory scheme creates barriers to recovery for persons injured by medical negligence. Our team of lawyers can help you navigate this system, starting with a free case evaluation.
Maryland’s Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office
State law uniquely screens medical malpractice cases prior to judicial review. The Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (HCADRO), an executive department established by § 3-2A-03, receives claimants’ initial filings. Plaintiffs satisfy § 3-2A-04(b)(1)(i) by submitting a certificate of a qualified expert supporting their allegations to the HCADRO Director.
Under Maryland’s Health Care Malpractice Claims Act, a claimant must file a certificate of a qualified expert with the Director that identifies a healthcare provider’s departure from the standard of care and states that the departure proximately caused the injury. The Director’s role in this process is administrative, and questions of breach and causation are ultimately determined by an arbitration panel or court. The defense can file their own certificate of a qualified expert contesting liability by opining that the defendant provider complied with legal standards of care.
Claimants and opposing parties are permitted, by § 3-2A-06B, to waive HCADRO arbitration and litigate malpractice actions any time after the claimant has filed their certificate. If the defense does not submit a certificate with the HCADRO before waiver, it must file one with the court.
What Is Medical Malpractice Under Maryland Law?
Medical malpractice typically refers to a legal action where a party seeks damages for harm arising from the negligence of a healthcare provider. Plaintiffs have the burden of proving that the provider breached their duty of care and that the breach caused their injury.
The elements tending to dominate these suits are breach and causation. The parties’ certificates of qualified experts, or their expert testimony, will contain attestations tending to prove or disprove these elements.
Under § 3-2A-02(c)(1), a plaintiff can offer evidence that a named health care provider failed to comply “with the standards of practice among members of the same health care profession with similar training and experience situated in the same or similar communities[.]” The noncompliance must have occurred at the time of the alleged act underlying the negligence suit.
In § 3-2A-02(c)(2)(ii), the Act designates the content of a certificate subsuming a qualified expert’s attestation. Therein, a medical expert renders a qualified opinion on a healthcare professional’s compliance with or deviation from standards of care. This opinion may be confined to a certificate or presented as testimony before an arbitration panel or court.
The defendant’s certificate of a qualified expert, or that expert’s testimony, can be used to refute the plaintiff’s expert opinion. In terms of breach, the defense will use that qualified expert certificate or testimony to argue that the healthcare provider acted in compliance with § 3-2A-02(c)(1).
These certificates, or testimony, by qualified experts, also shed light on causation, as they can attest, or contest, that but for a healthcare provider’s act or omission, the plaintiff would not have been injured. But, legal (i.e., “proximate”) causation is largely a product of case law. The overarching rule, reiterated in a recent Maryland judgment, is that a medical provider proximately causes the alleged harm if their act or omission is a cause; it does not need to be “the only cause” of the injury.
Medical Malpractice Lawsuits in Maryland Are Complicated; We Can Help
Medical malpractice suits often hinge on which party has the better-qualified expert attesting for their side. By obtaining legal counsel with experience in these cases, you have the best chance of securing compelling evidence.
Price Benowitz is a Maryland personal injury law firm with the experience to win, arbitrate, or settle your case so that you are fairly compensated for injuries sustained by healthcare providers you should have been able to trust. Call now for a free case evaluation.
