Medical Malpractice
Maryland General Hospital now uses the name University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus (UMMC Midtown). It is an acute care hospital in Baltimore, Maryland in Mt. Vernon that is part of the University of Maryland Medical System.
It has 144 inpatient beds and practices in most areas, including general surgery, wound care, emergency medicine, cardiology, orthopedics, behavioral health, and women’s health. It is a teaching hospital. More than 500 University of Maryland clinical faculty physicians practice at Midtown, and the hospital has about 1,400 team members.
The hospital also has a 10-story outpatient center across the street from the main Midtown campus. The $70 million Midtown Outpatient Tower opened in 2021 and focuses on patients with complex and chronic medical conditions.
UMMC moved its obstetric services about one mile away to the main UMMC campus in 2013. The stated reason was a 50 percent decline in deliveries. Midtown still provides outpatient women’s health, prenatal, gynecologic, and midwifery services.
UMMC Midtown Emergency Room Malpractice
UMMC Midtown has a 24-hour emergency room and is a designated Primary Stroke Center.
Emergency room malpractice cases at Midtown can involve the same issues we see at other busy Baltimore hospitals: failure to diagnose a stroke, heart attack, sepsis, internal bleeding, pulmonary embolism, infection, or another medical emergency.
One issue that comes up in hospital malpractice cases is figuring out who actually employed the doctor who provided the care. The hospital, University of Maryland Medical System, University of Maryland physician practices, outside physician groups, and individual doctors can have different legal relationships.
That distinction can become important when the hospital argues that the doctor who made the mistake was not actually its employee.
Where To File UMMC Midtown Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Baltimore City is a good place for lawyers to file Maryland medical malpractice lawsuits. Our law firm has gotten numerous 7-figure verdicts and settlements in Baltimore City. Baltimore City jurors have been to hospitals in the City and are not surprised to find out that doctors and nurses at these hospitals have been accused of medical malpractice. These jurors are less likely to believe it is impossible for a doctor to make a mistake.
UMMC Midtown is not a bad hospital. But, like many hospitals, it has its fair share of screw-ups that lead to medical malpractice injury and wrongful death lawsuits.
The hospital received a C from Leapfrog in its Spring 2026 Hospital Safety Grade. But hospital-wide ratings only tell you so much. The question in an individual malpractice case is what happened to the patient and whether the doctors and nurses complied with the standard of care.
UMMC Midtown Malpractice Verdicts and Lawsuits
Below are examples of medical malpractice lawsuits and verdicts involving UMMC Midtown or its former name, Maryland General Hospital.
A filed lawsuit contains allegations. It does not mean that the hospital or an individual healthcare provider was ultimately found negligent.
- Panzer v. Maryland General Hospital – $3.42 Million Verdict: A patient experiencing headaches, memory problems, and numbness underwent an MRI that revealed an arteriovenous malformation in her brain. The plaintiffs alleged that the AVM required urgent follow-up and that she should have been warned about symptoms suggesting that it was bleeding. She later developed nausea, vomiting, and a severe headache and died after a massive brain hemorrhage. A Baltimore City jury returned a $3.42 million medical malpractice and wrongful death verdict.
- Sample v. University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus: A patient underwent carotid endarterectomy surgery at UMMC Midtown and received blood-thinning medications after the procedure. The lawsuit alleged that he developed neck pain, neck swelling, facial swelling, breathing problems, and other signs of postoperative bleeding. The plaintiffs alleged that an expanding hematoma was not recognized and treated before it obstructed his airway and caused his death. The lawsuit named Midtown and surgical defendants.
- Czajkowski v. University of Maryland Midtown Health: A hospital malpractice lawsuit alleged that a patient who had been identified as a critical fall risk had her fall precautions reduced. She later fell and suffered a skull fracture, intracranial hemorrhage, and subdural hematoma. She underwent a craniotomy and was left requiring 24-hour care. The lawsuit alleged negligent fall-risk assessment and inadequate fall precautions.
- Dunham v. University of Maryland Medical Center: This malpractice case involved allegations that UMMC, Maryland General Hospital doing business as UMMC Midtown, and UMMS failed to prevent serious pressure ulcers from developing and failed to properly treat the ulcers once they developed. The case ultimately produced a reported Maryland appellate decision involving the requirements for an expert certificate in a malpractice claim against institutional healthcare defendants.
- Crise v. Maryland General Hospital: A patient with a history of serious psychiatric illness was being evaluated in the Maryland General emergency room when he left the hospital before completing a psychiatric evaluation. He later suffered severe orthopedic injuries after jumping from a bridge. The malpractice lawsuit alleged that the hospital failed to properly monitor him and prevent him from leaving. The trial court initially entered judgment for Maryland General, but Maryland’s appellate court reversed that ruling and sent the case back for further proceedings.
- Thornton v. Maryland General Hospital: This wrongful death malpractice case arose after a pregnant patient was admitted to Maryland General with placental abruption and fetal demise. After delivery, she suffered severe postpartum hemorrhaging, significant blood loss, difficulty maintaining IV access, and deterioration that ultimately led to her death. One of the major legal issues in the case was whether the hospital could be held responsible for the alleged negligence of a physician who was not directly employed by Maryland General.
These cases give you some idea of the different types of malpractice claims that have been brought involving this hospital. They include failure to diagnose, postoperative monitoring, hospital falls, pressure ulcers, emergency room care, obstetrical care, and wrongful death claims.
Who Can Be Responsible for Malpractice at UMMC Midtown?
A doctor treating you at UMMC Midtown is not necessarily an employee of UMMC Midtown.
A malpractice lawsuit may involve the hospital itself, University of Maryland Medical System, an individual doctor, a physician practice, a University of Maryland faculty practice, or another healthcare provider.
This matters because the hospital may argue that a doctor was an independent provider and that the hospital should not be responsible for the doctor’s negligence.
The Thornton case discussed above involved this kind of dispute. Similar questions can arise with emergency room doctors, surgeons, specialists, and hospitalists.
Our lawyers look at the medical records and the relationship between the hospital and the healthcare providers to figure out who the proper defendants are.
Maryland General Hospital’s Defense Team
The University of Maryland Medical System has been defended by a who’s who of defense firms, including Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker; Morgan Carlo Downs & Everton; Whitford Taylor Preston; Chason, Rosner, Leary & Marshall; Waranch & Brown; Miles & Stockbridge; and Pessin Katz.
There are no bad apples in this barrel – all good advocates who know how to defend a health care provider negligence case.
How Much Is a UMMC Midtown Malpractice Case Worth?
There is no meaningful average settlement value for a medical malpractice lawsuit against UMMC Midtown. Presumably, the hospital has some internal sense of what it has paid over the years, but that number is not public. And even if someone handed it to us tomorrow, neatly calculated down to the dollar, it would tell us nothing about what your case is worth.
That is because the value of a malpractice case does not really turn on the name on the hospital building. It turns on the unique facts of your case.
The starting point is always did the doctor or nurse make a mistake that caused injury or death. The quality of the malpractice evidence matters is the key. Strong cases have strong evidence that you can convey simply to a jury. Medicine involves judgment, and sometimes two competent doctors can look at the same situation and reasonably disagree about what should have been done. Our lawyers do not take these types of malpractice cases because judgment-call cases are tough to get to a jury, much less win. But there is a world of difference between that kind of dispute and a case where an imaging study showed something dangerous, the lab results were screaming for attention, or the patient’s condition was obviously deteriorating, and nobody did what needed to be done.
Then there are the damages themselves. Future medical care, lost income, reduced earning capacity, disability, pain, physical limitations, and the patient’s age and health before the malpractice can all change the value of the case. Maryland’s cap on noneconomic damages is also a part of that equation and our lawyers are look for hospital malpractice cases that have high economic damages because those damages are not capped.
Ordering Medical Records from UMMC Midtown
Medical records are important in determining what the doctors and nurses did, and whether their actions complied with the standard of care.
UMMS allows patients to obtain medical records through MyChart or by submitting a written authorization to its Release of Information office.
Records can be ordered from:
University of Maryland Medical System
Release of Information Central Office
Health Information Management Department
110 S. Paca Street, 9th Floor
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
410-328-5706
UMMC Midtown’s Health Information Management department number is 410-225-8310.
Usually, your lawyer will collect your medical records for you. But if you are getting them yourself, get all of the records. You want it all — doctors notes, nursing notes, medication administration records, lab results, imaging reports, operative reports, anesthesia records, vital-sign flowsheets, rapid-response records, and discharge instructions.
You may also have more than one set of records because of independent contractors providing care to you. Hospital records and records maintained by an individual University of Maryland physician practice likely have to be requested separately.
Contact Us
If you were injured at UMMC Midtown, contact our med mal attorneys at 800-553-8082, or send us a free internet request for consultation. We can help you determine whether your doctors or nurses made mistakes for which they should be held responsible.
For More Information
- Maryland Medical Malpractice Claims – what to expect as you move forward
- Frequently Asked Questions: Maryland Medical Malpractice
- Maryland General settlement with the Justice Department
- Value of emergency room malpractice claims