Maryland Lawsuits AgainstBaltimore Washington Medical Center

Glen Burnie, MD 21061

According to Maryland Judiciary Case Search, Baltimore Washington Medical, entered with that exact spelling, has been sued for medical malpractice 49 times and for tort claims 4 times since 2012. The exact search criteria used on Maryland Judiciary Case Search is as follows:  Company: Baltimore Washington Medical, Party Type: Defendant, Case Type: Civil (Medical Malpractice & Other Tort), Court System: Circuit Court only, County: Default All, Filing Date: 9/26/2012-07/20/2022.

History of Baltimore Washington Medical Center

The facility opened in 1965 as North Arundel Hospital, a small acute treatment center based in Glen Burnie with three floors and just over 100 beds. Over the next several decades the campus continued to expand by implementing a surgical program, opening a separate emergency wing, and establishing several specialty care departments. In 2000 the hospital joined the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), a private, non-profit hospital network. A name change was implemented in 2005 and the facility became the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC). When University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical is entered on Maryland Judiciary Case Search using the same metrics listed above, the case count increases by 6 medical malpractice claims and 1 tort claim.

Today UM BWMC is a nationally recognized teaching hospital with 285 inpatient beds and over 3,000 staff members. It was one of the first community hospitals in the region to require specialty board certification for all physicians, and its instructional curriculum retains a heavy emphasis on consistency of care and patient safety. While UM BWMC offers a diverse array of specialty departments, its obstetrics, neurology, and digestive disorder programs are especially well regarded.

Baltimore Washington Medical Center in the News

In 2015 UM BWMC was among several hospitals across the county that were sued by health insurers alleging a fraudulent billing scheme. The facilities named in the lawsuit were accused of implanting counterfeit spinal hardware into unsuspecting patients and then overbilling insurance providers for payment. Spinal Solutions LLC, a now-shuttered medical supply company in California, was the distributor of the surgical parts cited in the claim. Shortly after receiving a warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012 for quality control issues, the company issued a recall for some of its spinal fusion implants that were distributed in Maryland.

Dr. Randy Davis, a spinal surgeon at UM BWMC, was named in the suit for putatively forging a consulting contract with Spinal Solutions LLC that paid him almost half a million dollars in consulting fees in exchange for using the fusion equipment on his patients. The claim also contended that based on his recommendations, the hospital purchased over $1 million in potentially tainted hardware from the company and then charged insurers for reimbursement at inflated rates.

Following the recall of the allegedly counterfeit parts, UM BWMC sent a letter to roughly 250 of its spinal fusion patients who may have received the faulty hardware and invited them to “address any concerns” to hospital administrators. However, as contended in the suit, many of the questionable parts manufactured by Spinal Solutions were intermingled with authentic products that were implanted into patients. This could make identifying who received the faulty hardware a significant challenge, thereby increasing the risk of a sudden catastrophic equipment failure with the potential to cause severe disability or death.

Statistics about Baltimore Washington Medical Center

According to Baltimore Business Journal, in 2020, the following was true:

  • 18,691 Admissions
  • 109,385 Outpatient visits
  • 128,076 Admissions and Outpatient visits
This information is from “Hospitals, Ranked by Admissions at Hospitals in Greater Baltimore in 2020” written by Giacomo Bologna, Baltimore Business Journal Book of Lists 2021-2022

Some of the major personal injury attorneys that regularly sue UM BWMC for medical malpractice are: Brown & Barron LLC; Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl; and Brown & Getka, P.A. As the hospital is based in Anne Arundel County, the majority of malpractice cases against it are filed in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. If you or a loved one have been injured by UM BWMC, you should contact a personal injury lawyer to assess your claim.

 

Last updated July 20, 2022

All data below is as according to the MD Judiciary, As of: 9/26/2012. Data Policy

Baltimore Washington Medical Center Lawsuit Statistics

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