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Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyers - Virginia & Washington DC Attorneys

Medical malpractice errors are real, and in fact lead to nearly 100,000 deaths each year.  Research shows that more people die from medical mistakes than from all car accidents. 

Portner & Shure attorneys have won by themselves, or with co-counsel, verdicts and settlements in most areas of medical malpractice.  Our attorneys work on cases involving:

Medical malpractice is a complex field of law.  By definition it means that a health care provider caused injury or death to a patient by failing to act within the applicable standard of care.  In other words, a physician or health care provider commits medical malpractice when he or she fails to act reasonably under the circumstances and the unreasonable conduct causes harm.  To be successful a malpractice lawyer must possess not only excellent legal knowledge, but also have familiarity with the health care profession and proper medical treatment.   In every case we accept, our litigators work as a team, with co-counsel, who has a registered nurse on staff and is affiliated with numerous physicians who can immediately evaluate the medical aspects of any claim. 

Unfortunately, medical procedures sometimes result in poor outcomes that could have not been predicted or avoided.  Simply put, just because a patient experiences a complication, does not mean that the doctor did anything wrong.  If a physician practices long enough he or she will experience an unforeseen result.  Some medical mistakes of course are obvious, such as a surgeon leaving an instrument inside a patient.  Most mistakes, however, are far less obvious.  To ascertain whether you or someone you know has been a victim of medical malpractice, you should contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney. 

If you retain Portner & Shure, one of our attorneys will then investigate the merits of your case.  The process involves our staff obtaining all pertinent medical records.  This can be a long process that can take months to complete.  Next, Mr. Portner or Mr. Shure, or our co-counsel, will review the records for signs of medical malpractice.  In many cases, if we have a question we will have a doctor, nurse or other medical professional review the records and render a professional opinion.  Due to our firms connections in the medical field, no delay will occur in trying to find a qualified medical practitioner to conduct the review. 

Overview of Common medical malpractice areas

Cerebral Palsy is a chronic medical condition caused by damage to the developing  brain.  It often occurs from difficult labor or problems during delivery that cause lack of oxygen, bleeding, head trauma or other injury.  Birth injuries that may result in brain damage include failure to order a C-Section in a timely manner, excessive use of a vacuum extractor, failure to treat seizures following birth and improper delivery.  An estimated 6,000 to 10,000 infants and children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy each year.  Cerebral palsy's motor component can affect just the lower limbs or all four limbs.  Children affected may also suffer from other problems such as vision and/or hearing loss, mental retardation, difficulty swallowing, learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders. 

To be successful in these cases the legal team must work closely with experts in fields of obstetrics, maternal & fetal medicine, neonatology, pediatric neurology, neuro-imaging, child development, rehabilitation, vocational placement and economic analysis of past and future loss.  With respect to economic loss, the costs providing proper care for a child over a lifetime can exceed millions of dollars.  If your child has CP you must consider whether it is the result of negligence on the part of the doctor who managed your pregnancy and/or labor or delivery. 

Mr. Portner's father is still a practicing obgyn in Colorado.  With the help of his father's medical experience of over forty years, he has spent a considerable amount of time learning and evaluating issues in this area of law.  While going over issues in these cases with his father's colleagues, he has gained access to some of the leading experts in this field of medicine. 

Cerebral Palsy

Learning that a newborn child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy is one of the greatest fears of expecting parents. A diagnosis of cerebral palsy often means that a child could suffer from a number of potentially crippling disabilities, including muscular deformity, involuntary movement, seizures, speech disorders and mental retardation for the rest of their lives. Although a specific cause of cerebral palsy has not been pinpointed, the general consensus is that cerebral palsy is brought on by some form of injury to the brain of the infant before, during, or shortly after birth. Fortunately for those that suffer from cerebral palsy and their parents, awards in cerebral palsy cases are usually substantial because of the long term effect of the condition and the high cost of medical care associated with the disorder.  

In Frederick County, a jury recently yielded an award of close to 4 million dollars to the family of a child diagnosed with cerebral palsy after birth. In this case, the mother, who was 8 months pregnant at the time, began to complain of severe and persistent pain and vomiting. After alternative treatments were attempted, the child was born via cesarean section hours after the mother's complaints. Upon birth, the child demonstrated signs of oxygen depravation to the brain, which is commonly associated with cerebral palsy. At trial, the family alleged that the failure of the attending physicians to properly evaluate, diagnose and treat the mother was the cause of the child's cerebral palsy. The jury agreed with the family, and rendered an award of nearly 4 million dollars for past and future medical expenses, future lost income and non-economic damages.  

If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a number of factors may indicate that the condition has been caused or facilitated by medical negligence. Common indicators of medical negligence shown shortly after birth are if a child is under-oxygenated or has bluish skin, seizures, trouble breathing, or an abnormal fluxuation of body temperature. Use of vacuum extraction or heart rate abnormalities are also indicators of medical negligence. Other factors that could indicate medical negligence are whether the attending physicians addressed changes in the condition of the pregnant mother, whether physicians addressed changes in the condition of the fetus, whether a cesarean section was ordered in a timely manner, and whether there is a family history of brain damage.  

If you or your child suffers from cerebral palsy and you believe that the condition was a result of medical negligence, you should contact an attorney immediately. The attorneys at Portner & Shure have many years of experience providing aggressive representation for the victims of cerebral palsy and their families and currently practice in Maryland, Virginia and Texas. 

Brain Injury

When the brain is struck, violently shaken or penetrated by an object brain damage can result.  Brain injury can be mild (concussion), moderate (loss of consciousness), or severe (paralysis).  Traumatic brain injury can result from auto accidents or from intentional criminal assaults. 

More severe symptoms include: 

Types of Brain Injury and Treatment

Head injuries are referred to as open or closed head injuries.  Closed head injury occurs when the skull is not fractured, but the brain still sustains an injury.  This is often caused by blunt forces, a violent head strike, or strong force that causes the brain to strike or rub against the inside wall of the skull. 

Open head injury occurs when the skull has been fractured.  Both can lead to severe brain damage. 

Brain injuries can require expensive medical care and rehabilitation.  This may include emergency medical care, surgical treatments, care-givers and rehabilitation.  Further, many brain injury victims require surgery to repair fractured skulls, relieve increased intracranial pressure, and stop internal bleeding. 

Possible Complications

An experienced Portner & Shure attorney can help determine the cause of the brain injury, help factor the costs of recovery, and obtain compensation for the manner in which the injury altered your life. 

Cancer Misdiagnosis: Early detection of cancer is a likely factor in successful treatment, higher survival rates and decreased costs of medical bills for cancer patients.  Failing to order appropriate tests that could reveal early staged cancer is a medical problem.  If cancer is diagnosed after the disease has advanced to a more serious stage, more drastic forms of treatment such as higher doses of radiation and chemotherapy are required.  These treatments may have been unnecessary if the disease was detected earlier.  They are both painful and at time debilitating. 

In cancer cases physicians often fail to take patient complaints seriously, and as a result, are negligent for: 

Both Mr. Shure and Mr. Portner have had cancer strike close to home.  In one case, involving Mr. Shure's family member who died as a result of the negligence, there was a claim made for late diagnosis.  Suit was filed and the doctor settled for over a million dollars. 

It is important to know that many cases of cancer are curable, or can be put into remission if treated early.  It is a known fact that the following types of cancer respond well to early treatment: 

If you believe your physician misdiagnosed your cancer and is negligent, you cannot delay in acting.  All states have a Statute of Limitations that limit the time in which you have to file these claims.  

HOW MUCH IS YOUR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASE WORTH?

Numerous factors affect the value of your case.  While there is no magic formula, an attorney who understands how to properly evaluate damages, can drastically alter the value of a claim.  A jury is told to award damages that would fairly compensate the Plaintiff.  Fair compensation can be argued by going through the following factors: 

PHYSICIAN REVIEW

Before choosing a doctor look into his background.  Check to see if he or she has been disciplined.

These types of cases are serious, difficult and time consuming. As you are selective in retaining an attorney, Portner & Shure carefully screens medical malpractice claims. If the firm agrees to take a case, however, we find the best experts possible on your behalf and front all expenses regardless of the cost.

We are aggressive and spend all the time necessary to prepare your case. Within the last two years this process has resulted in several large verdicts. In fact, in a recent case, with the use of a handwriting expert, Portner & Shure was able to prove that a doctor had actually altered medical records to avoid the discovery of his terrible mistake. He was not successful. In fact, our client obtained a substantial recovery because we proved this doctor was a fraud.

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