In the age of Google and other search engines, a lot of important information can be found on the internet.
From researching a potential car to buy, to finding the best doctor, it’s all on the internet.
Add to that, in the state of Maryland a person can search online to see if their doctor has been sued for malpractice before.
In some instances, when a person thinks that either their injury, or their child’s birth injury, was due to the negligence of their doctor, they wonder if this information can be used as “proof” that the doctor injured them.
Hopefully by the conclusion of this educational article you will have a better understanding of the Maryland medical malpractice and childbirth injury process.
Some Background On The Process…
Before answering the question above of whether you essentially use your doctor’s previous medical malpractice case as evidence of malpractice done to you, let us first get some background into this process.
Maryland law requires that in medical malpractice cases you must have an expert who can testify as to what was the standard of care owed to you.
For the purposes of this discussion think of the standard of care as what would a reasonable and prudent doctor do under the same set of circumstances as your doctor?
Would a reasonable and prudent doctor cut somewhere on or in the body before identify what he or she is cutting first?
Not only must your medical expert explain the standard of care, that expert must explain whether your doctor departed from the standard of care causing your injury.
So in other words, your injury must have been caused by your doctor not following good and acceptable medical care.
If something else caused your injury, then you will have a hard time proving your case.
Now That We Have The Groundwork…
As the above paragraph explains, some of the critical issues surrounding a Maryland medical malpractice/ childbirth injury case deal with the standard of care and causation of the injury.
Nowhere in this analysis will you find relevant the fact your doctor has been sued for malpractice in the past.
Maryland law wants a jury, or the fact finder, to focus on the legal issues in your case, and your case alone.
So the answer to the above question of whether you will be able to tell the jury that your doctor has been sued for malpractice before is no!
Do You Have More Questions About Your Injury?
To speak with me further about your Maryland medical injury, or your child’s birth injury this is what I invite you to do, and remember it costs nothing for you to take this next action and that is to pick up the phone and give me a call.
I can be reached at 301-850-4832.
I answer medical malpractice questions like yours all the time and I would be happy to listen to your story.
