If you or a parent was hurt by medical care in Maryland, the hardest part is often not the English. It is knowing whether what happened was a medical error at all, and what Maryland requires before a claim can even begin. Malpractice claims follow their own procedure, they turn on physician review of the records, and hospitals and their insurers contest them seriously.
Blank Kim Injury Law handles medical malpractice claims across Maryland. Attorney Robert J. Kim (로버트 김), a partner at the firm, is your Korean-language point of contact: you can explain what happened in Korean, and hear in Korean what the firm finds and what each step means. This page covers how these claims work in Maryland, who can be responsible, the evidence, the deadlines and what the consultation looks like.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Whether you have a claim depends on the records and the facts.
What counts as medical malpractice in Maryland
A disappointing result is not, by itself, malpractice. Medicine carries risk, and a treatment can fail even when every provider did the right thing. In general, a Maryland malpractice claim needs four things:
- A provider relationship. A doctor, nurse, hospital or practice owed the patient a duty of care.
- A departure from the standard of care. The care fell short of what a competent provider in the same field would have done in the same situation.
- Causation. That shortfall caused the injury, not just the illness the patient already had.
- Damages. Real harm followed, such as additional treatment, a permanent injury, lost income or a death.
Causation is usually the hardest element to prove. If a patient was already very sick, the defense will argue the outcome would have been the same with perfect care. This matters most when a diagnosis came late. Some states allow a claim for a lost chance of a better outcome, but Maryland does not follow that approach: Maryland requires proof that the delay more likely than not caused the harm.
So where a condition was already likely to end badly, a negligent delay that made it worse may still not support a Maryland claim. That is why the firm reviews the records before telling you whether a case can go forward, rather than promising anything at the first conversation.
Kinds of medical malpractice claims Blank Kim Injury Law handles
Blank Kim Injury Law handles medical negligence claims across Maryland, including:
- Diagnosis errors. A misdiagnosis, or a delayed diagnosis such as a cancer found late, where a treatable condition progressed while it went unrecognized.
- Emergency room mistakes. For example, a patient sent home with the signs of a heart attack, stroke or sepsis.
- Surgical errors. Injuries during an operation, surgery on the wrong site, or items left inside the body.
- Medication errors. The wrong drug, the wrong dose or a missed interaction, in a hospital, pharmacy or nursing home.
- Birth injuries. Harm to a mother or baby during labor and delivery, including cerebral palsy linked to oxygen deprivation.
- A death caused by medical care. The family may have a wrongful death claim alongside a survival claim.
Claims also come out of nursing homes, surgical centers, clinics and dental offices. A nursing home claim may be an ordinary negligence claim against the facility, or it may be treated as a medical malpractice claim with the procedure described below; which track applies depends on the care involved. If your situation is not on this list, ask. If you were hurt in a crash rather than by medical care, see the Korean-speaking car accident lawyer page.
Maryland's certificate of qualified expert and the HCADRO filing
Maryland does not allow a malpractice case to go forward on the patient's account alone. Two steps shape the beginning of almost every claim.
- A certificate of a qualified expert. A qualifying medical professional has to certify that the care departed from the standard of care and caused the injury. The certificate must be filed within a set period after the claim begins, and a case without it can be dismissed.
- A filing with HCADRO first. Maryland malpractice claims start at the Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office. In most cases the parties waive arbitration and the case moves to circuit court, but the first filing still has to be made correctly.
Maryland also limits who may serve as the expert. A physician who spends too much professional time testifying can be disqualified, so the review needs to come from a practicing provider in the right specialty. When Blank Kim Injury Law takes a malpractice case, the firm arranges that physician review, prepares the certificate of qualified expert and files within the deadlines.
Who can be responsible for a medical error in Maryland
A claim is brought against the provider whose care fell below the standard, and often against the organization behind that provider. Depending on the facts, that can include:
- Doctors and surgeons
- Nurses and other clinical staff
- Hospitals and health systems
- Medical practices, clinics and surgical centers
- Pharmacies
- Nursing homes
- Dental offices
Two points affect how the claim is handled. First, a claim against a government hospital or clinic can require written notice much sooner than the ordinary filing deadline. Second, hospitals and their insurers defend these claims seriously, so the firm prepares each case as though it will be tried.
If a health insurer, Medicare or Medicaid paid for your treatment, it may have a right to be repaid from any recovery. That repayment does not reduce what the claim is worth, but it affects what actually reaches you, and it is often negotiable.
The evidence behind a Maryland malpractice claim
Malpractice cases are built from the medical record, read by physicians who know the field. Your memory of the exam room matters, but the question is always what the records and the reviewing doctors can show.
- The complete medical record. Not a summary: nursing notes, imaging, lab results and orders.
- The billing record. It often shows what was ordered and when, which can fill gaps in the chart.
- Physician review. Qualifying physicians in the right specialty review the care and say whether it met the standard and what the failure caused.
- Your own timeline. When symptoms started, what you reported, who you saw and when you learned something was wrong.
Some things justify a closer look: a symptom reported again and again without being investigated, a test result nobody acted on, or a complication that appeared after something was done differently than planned. You usually cannot tell from the outside whether it was malpractice, and neither can a lawyer until the records are reviewed.
Medical records, discharge papers and letters from a hospital or insurer arrive in English. You can have English documents and insurer letters explained in Korean, so you are not guessing at what a document means before you decide anything.
How long you have to file a medical malpractice claim in Maryland
Malpractice deadlines work differently from ordinary injury claims. Generally, a Maryland malpractice claim must be filed within five years of the injury or within three years of the date the injury was discovered, whichever comes first.
- Children. Claims for children follow their own rules, which can extend the time for an injury at birth or in early childhood.
- Government providers. A claim against a government hospital or clinic can require written notice much sooner.
- The discovery date. When the injury was discovered is often disputed, so a date you think is safe may not be.
Do not assume the deadline has already passed, and do not assume you have plenty of time. Request a free consultation and the firm will look at the dates that apply to your situation.
What a Maryland medical malpractice claim can include
Every case is different, and no web page can tell you what yours is worth. Depending on the facts, a claim can include:
- Past and future medical care, including surgery, therapy and equipment
- Lost income and lost earning capacity
- The value of care a family provides at home
- Pain, suffering and disability
- The family's losses when a patient dies
Maryland caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, and that cap is separate from the one used in ordinary injury cases. The cap 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. Results in other cases do not predict the outcome of yours.
How a Korean-language malpractice consultation works
Robert J. Kim is a partner at Blank Kim Injury Law and is admitted in Maryland and Virginia. He was born and raised in New York City and is fluent in Korean thanks to his parents, who came from Korea. For malpractice matters, Blank Kim Injury Law handles the case and Rob is your Korean-language point of contact throughout. More about his background is on the About Robert J. Kim page.
- Free consultation. Tell the firm what happened, who treated you and when you learned something was wrong, in Korean or English. The consultation is free, and there is no obligation to hire the firm afterward.
- Records. The firm gathers the complete medical and billing records.
- Physician review. Qualifying physicians in the right specialty review the care.
- Certificate and filing. If the review supports a claim, the firm prepares the certificate of qualified expert and files within the deadlines.
- Updates in Korean. Throughout the case, progress is explained in Korean, and you can have English insurance letters, settlement releases and court papers explained in Korean.
You do not have to bring a son, daughter or church friend to translate, and your medical history does not have to pass through a relative. Bring someone if you would like to; it is your choice rather than a requirement. Court proceedings themselves are conducted in English, and interpretation is arranged where it is needed for hearings and depositions.
Rob mainly meets clients at the firm's Silver Spring office in Montgomery County. If your injuries make travel hard, the whole consultation can be done by phone. For more on how he works with Korean-speaking clients, see the Korean-speaking lawyer in Maryland page.
No fee unless we recover money for you. We advance the case costs and are repaid only from a recovery.
