Posted on March 16, 2010 in Birth Trauma Malpractice / Cerebral Palsy Malpractice

A New York jury has awarded a family $43 million in a medical malpractice case. The jury found that a hospital failed to properly resuscitate a child at birth, causing cerebral palsy. The family had previously settled out of court with the doctor involved in the delivery.

My name is Andrew Slutkin. As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving birth injuries. These cases are extremely complex, requiring multiple expert witnesses such as an obstetrician, neonatologist, pediatric neurologist placental pathologist, life care planner, economist, etc. They are very challenging cases to win, but important nevertheless as they can help a family take care of a brain damaged individual for life. To see some of the cases I have handled, click here.

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 Posted on March 15, 2010 in Child Support

The Maryland Legislature is currently considering legislation that would update the Maryland Child Support Guidelines. The legislation has passed in the Senate, but has not yet passed in the House. Many proponents of the legislation feel it is long overdue as the Maryland Child Support Guidelines have not been updated in over 20 years, since 1988 when Maryland first implemented the guidelines to comply with the federal government’s recommendation. At that time, the government also recommended that the guidelines be revisited very four years which has not been done in Maryland. The Maryland guidelines calculate the payment by using a pre-established figure to represent the expenses in the household that covers the child or children and then dividing this figure based upon the parties’ respective income percentages, see Maryland Annotated Code, Family Law 12-204 . Currently the guidelines are calculated based on the proportion of expenses for children based on expenses and the cost of living in 1988. These expenses have not increased in perfect proportion to parents incomes over the years, which is one of many reasons why proponents seek to have these guidelines re-evaluated. Additionally, the guidelines do not calculate for those with combined household incomes over $10,000 a month, which encompasses many more households than it did in 1988. The new legislation would change the guidelines to include higher income situations up to $30,000 a month.

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 Posted on March 12, 2010 in Controlled Dangerous Substances (CDS)

Since I have been doing this Baltimore Maryland Criminal attorney/lawyer blog I have often been chided by my friends on the other side of the aisle (This is for you Joey D.) for only blogging about the cases that I win. So, in an attempt to show a little balance and humility, I will discuss a case that I lost the other day in this posting. The real reason I do this is to illustrate the point that a good criminal defense attorney always has a Plan B no matter how strong a case he believes he has. In other words, even in cases that I am confident that I will prevail, I always consider the possibility that we will lose and think about how to minimize the damage to the client if that should occur.

I had just such a case this week in Baltimore County Circuit Court. My client was charged with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. I believed, and still believe, that I had an overwhelming case for suppression of the evidence because I believed the police had stopped my client without probable cause or even the lesser standard known as reasonable articulable suspicion, which allows police in certain circumstances to briefly detain a suspect for investigatory purposes. The facts of the case were as follows:

A Baltimore County Police Officer was driving past a shopping center containing a grocery store when he observed an Acura parked towards the back of the parking lot away from most but not all of the cars. He testified that this vehicle was occupied by one person who was in the driver’s seat and that there were roughly 5 empty spaces in between this vehicle and the next closest car. He testified that the vehicle was approximately 75 yards from the entrance of the store. In spite of the fact that it was 4:00pm and the business was open and operating, he testified that he found this situation to be suspicious.

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 Posted on March 11, 2010 in Child Custody

I recently received the written report and recommendation of the Master in the case detailed in the February 14, 2010 blog, Relocation Custody Cases in Maryland – Part Two. The findings, report and recommendation were favorable to my client. Among many other things, the Master specifically found that the mother was not willing to foster a relationship between the minor child and the father and that an award of sole custody to the mother would not be in the minor child’s best interest. Accordingly, the Master recommended that the parties have joint legal and physical custody of the minor child (with a one week on, one week off access schedule for each parent) until he commences Kindergarten, at which time the father would have primary physical custody of the child here in Maryland with specified visitation to the Mother.

I believe the mother will probably file exceptions to the Master’s recommendations, which will require her to meet the requirments of Maryland Rule 9-208. An Exceptions Hearing, is not a de novo hearing (a re-trial), instead the Judge assigned the case decides the exceptions based on the evidence presented to the Master unless the excepting party sets forth with particularilty the additional evidence to be offered and the reasons why the evidence was not offered before the Master, and the Judge determines that the additional evidence should be considered. If additional evidence is to be considered, the Judge may remand the matter back to the Master to hear and consider the additional evidence or at that point to conduct a de novo hearing.

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 Posted on March 09, 2010 in Dr. Mark Midei and St. Joseph Hospital - Stent Malpractice

In the continuing saga of the unnecessary cardiac stents that Dr. Mark Midei placed in people at St. Joseph Medical Center, St. Joseph now has sent letters to another 169 patients (in addition to the 369 who originally received letters) informing them that their stents were not necessary. That means that the total number of stent letters St. Joseph has sent now stands at 538.

In an excellent article today by Scott Graham, the Managing Editor / Health Care Reporter for the Baltimore Business Journal, Mr. Graham reported that St. Joseph continues to review Dr. Midei’s stent procedures between May 2007 and 2009 and expects more letters to be issued as the reviews progress. Interestingly, St. Joseph told Mr. Graham that the hospital has determined that only Dr. Midei was unnecessary implanting stents in people and that it was not a systemic problem involving other physicians. A copy of the article can be found here. Mr. Graham has written two other articles on the subject of the stents, which can be found here:

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 Posted on March 08, 2010 in Nursing Home Malpractice

A Montana family has settled its medical malpractice case against two nursing homes for failing to properly treat an elderly relative. The family claimed that the nursing homes were negligent in their care of the 87-year-old man, who died of a blood infection. The man fell and fractured his neck during a transfer from his wheelchair, which left him bedridden. He subsequently developed severe pressure ulcers that got worse over months and led to a case of gangrene of the leg. The family alleged that the wheelchair transfer and the treatment of the bedsores were below the standard of care. A article on the case can be found here .

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland lawyer / attorney who specializes in medical malpractice cases, I have handled a number of medical malpractice cases involving poor nursing home care. These cases require an extensive evaluation of the medical records involved and consultation with experts in nursing care. It is always said when the most vulnerable members of our society are mistreated.

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 Posted on March 01, 2010 in Divorce

On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler issued an opinion stating that Maryland courts and officials should recognize as valid same-sex marriages performed in other states. The Attorney General believes that the Maryland Courts will follow his lead, as they have recognized marriages performed legally in other states as legal here in Maryland. For example, while common law marriage is not recognized in Maryland, if a couple was married due to a common law relationship in another state Maryland has recognized that as a valid marriage. Also, the Attorney General points out that Maryland has recognized increasing rights for same-sex couples in the recent past, including the right to adopt. This Opinion puts state officials on notice that the Attorney General believes that Maryland is bound by the constitution to recognize these marriages as valid in Maryland, and state agencies should begin extending married rights to the couples. For more information on same-sex marriages view our February 5, 2010 blog.

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 Posted on February 28, 2010 in Divorce

As stated in the August 15, 2009 blog, Maryland is a hybrid state in that a party filing for an absolute divorce may elect to proceed on fault (contested) or no-fault (uncontested) based grounds. The Maryland Code, Family Law § 7-103 states that there are six fault based grounds for an absolute divorce: adultery, desertion, cruelty of treatment, insanity, incarceration and excessively vicious conduct.

Adultery, or voluntary intercourse between a spouse and an individual other than their spouse who is of the opposite sex, is a fault based ground for divorce that requires no waiting period to file. However, while you do not have to show evidence of the actual intercourse between your spouse and his or her paramour you must be able to prove both the opportunity and disposition for the adulterous intercourse to be proven.

In order to file for an absolute divorce based on desertion the desertion must continue for one year uninterrupted before filing, must have been a final and deliberate act, and there must be no reasonable hope of reconciliation. Desertion can be either actual or constructive. Actual desertion occurs when the spouse leaves the home without cause, and constructive desertion occurs when a spouse’s conduct justifies a leaving spouse to do so.

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 Posted on February 28, 2010 in Search and Seizure

Baltimore County Criminal Defense Lawyers/Attorneys deal regularly with issues of illegal search and seizure. Generally speaking the issue in many cases is not so much whether or not the defendant is factually guilty but whether or not the police violated the person’s constitutional rights in the process of investigating an/or arresting him. One of the specific issues that comes up quite often is the issue of when or if the police may conduct a strip search or the functional equivalent of a strip search of a person who is suspected of a crime or under arrest.

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to most people that when a person has been arrested for a serious felony or for any charge that causes them to be processed into the jail, that person will almost without exception be subjected to a strip search. The instances that are less clear cut are those cases in which a person is only charged with misdemeanors or traffic offenses and is released either on their personal recognizance or bailed out without ever going to the detention center, as well as cases in which the police strip search (or conduct the equivalent of a strip search) prior to an arrest taking place. I am currently representing an individual in the latter category. Briefly, here are the facts:

My client was pulled over on Interstate 95 for minor traffic offenses. The police officer claimed that he smelled marijuana and as a result determined that he had probable cause to search the vehicle. At this point he removed my client from the car and told him that he was going to search him for weapons for “officer safety”. He began by simply patting my client down but ended up pulling my clients pants down and reaching inside his underwear to remove approximately 28 grams of heroin which my client had hidden next to his genitals. He was arrested and charged with possession with the intent to distribute heroin and simple possession. Fortunately for my client the police car that was used by the police officer was equipped with a dash board video camera that recorded the entire incident so we are not stuck with the police officers version of the events contained in the Statement of Probable Cause.

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 Posted on February 26, 2010 in Proof

I am experienced Maryland criminal defense attorney who has counseled hundreds of criminal defendants and DUI suspects charged with fleeing the seen of an accident, Whether the driver has run into a tree and ditched his car, or ran someone over and sped off, experience shows that 90% of the time the responsible driver flees the scene because he is impaired by alcohol or drugs.

It is very easy for the police to prove a vehicle was in an accident. Often there are paint, blood or hair follicles that can be matched to the object or person hit. In cases where the vehicle is not ditched, police are often able to track down enough evidence to make a case against the owner/ driver. Sometimes the investigation takes days or weeks.

In these instances, however, it is almost impossible to prove the operator of the vehicle was impaired. This is because in order to convict a person of drunk driving, the police need to establish that the person was 1) behind the wheel, 2) had alcohol or drugs in his system, and 3) was above the Maryland legal limit of .08 or otherwise impaired.

In order to prove these elements for DUI, the police need to perform field sobriety tests and offer a breath test. The problem with delaying these tests is that if positive, it is impossible for the prosecution to establish WHEN the alcohol or drugs were ingested. Hence, if the police can’t put a person behind the wheel, the prosecution will fail.

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