Medical Malpractice
Franklin Square Hospital is one of Maryland’s oldest hospitals, opening its doors in Baltimore City with 20 beds in 1898. In 1969, the hospital moved to Baltimore County and is now Maryland’s third largest hospital with 347 beds. The emergency department is one of the busiest in the region, with more than 108,000 patient visits each year. Franklin Square serves Essex residents and much of the southeast side of Baltimore County and functions as a major community referral center.
With that size and volume comes complexity. High emergency room traffic increases the risk of triage errors, delayed diagnoses, and missed time-sensitive conditions such as stroke, sepsis, or aortic dissection. A large obstetrics department brings predictable exposure to shoulder dystocia claims, delayed cesarean section cases, and fetal monitoring disputes. A busy orthopedic service line can generate cases involving surgical alignment errors, hardware placement problems, or postoperative complications. None of this suggests that Franklin Square provides substandard care.
This all reflects the simple reality that the larger and busier the hospital, the more opportunities there are for both excellent outcomes and serious mistakes
Where To File Franklin Square Hospital Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Plaintiffs’ lawyers often file cases against Franklin Square in Baltimore City, though defense lawyers will do their best to move those cases to Baltimore County, where the hospital is located.
The reason is the widely held perception that Baltimore City is more favorable to medical malpractice plaintiffs than Baltimore County. This battle over which venue is appropriate is invariably a fact-specific question that often depends on where the plaintiff lives, or whether there is any other connection to Baltimore City. For example, Franklin Square sometimes “borrows” doctors from other hospitals (that may be Baltimore-based doctors) or the bulk of an injury that accrues after the malpractice occurs in the City.
Verdicts and Reported Cases
It is fair to say that there have been a large number of settlements and verdicts in malpractice cases that either occurred at Franklin Square or involved the hospital as a defendant. Our firm successfully litigated a botched gallbladder surgery case against a doctor from Franklin Square Hospital in 2010. The jury returned a verdict of $1.1 million. The physician cut our client’s hepatic duct while removing the gallbladder, which necessitated additional surgery and a much longer hospital stay. FSQ was also a defendant in a $13 million verdict, but was dismissed when its doctor settled the case before trial. Here are a few more examples of lawsuits filed against Franklin Square:
- Gentamicin overdose causing blindness, brain injury and quadriplegia (defense verdict);
- Failure to treat appendicitis;
- Failure to monitor an Alzheimer’s patient who died from burns he received after leaving defendant hospital unnoticed;
- Failure to provide anticoagulants to an atrial fibrillation patient that lead to death (defense verdict);
- Missed aortic dissection causing death;
- Negligent alignment during ankle surgery;
- Negligent delivery leading to shoulder dystocia birth injury (defense verdict);
- Failure for properly treat sepsis that resulted in the death of a baby;
- Delayed delivery of child that led to birth injuries
This is not necessarily an indictment of Franklin Square but a reflection of the size of the hospital. No one would suggest, for example, that Johns Hopkins is not a great hospital. But there are a lot of malpractice lawsuits brought against that great hospital as well.
Here are some of the specific cases against Franklin Square and a summary of the allegations:
- Singer v. Franklin Square – failure to diagnose and treat thromboembolic disease, leading to death of patient
- Phillips v. Franklin Square – failure to follow up treatment and failure to diagnose lung cancer
- Slavin v. Franklin Square – failure to diagnose and treat superventricular tachycardia, leading to the death of a 19-day-old girl
- Barnett v. Franklin Square – wrongful death from failure to diagnose heart attack
- Boham v. Franklin Square – failure to promptly triage patient and review complete medical history
- Poland v. Franklin Square – negligent failure to diagnose
- Burns v. Franklin Square – negligent failure to provide vasopressors before transport, resulting death
- Monroe v. Franklin Square – negligence, causing permanent neurological injury
- Stiles v. Franklin Square – patient sustained injuries after use of defective drug product
- 2015: Kalinski v. Franklin Square Meridian Nursing Home – negligent care of patient, causing her death
- 2015: Dent v. Franklin Square – failure to treat patient’s anemia
- 2015: Tripp v. Franklin Square – negligent care of patient, leading to death
Franklin Square Hospital’s Malpractice Defense Team
Part of the MedStar system, Franklin Square Hospital is typically defended in medical malpractice lawsuits by attorneys from Wharton Levin Ehrmantraut & Klein (Daniel Costello), Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann (Donald DeVries), Waranch & Brown, LLC (Anthony J. Breschi and Neal M. Brown), DeCaro, Doran, Siciliano, Gallagher & DeBlasis (Thomas L. Doran), or Gleason, Flynn, Emig & Fogleman (James Gleason). These law firms and lawyers are among the best medical malpractice lawyers in Maryland.
Ordering Records from Franklin Square Hospital
Medical malpractice cases begin with a review of the patient’s medical records. Most medical malpractice lawyers will tell you that they have seen plenty of cases that initially appear to be blatant medical malpractice, only to receive and review the records and find reasonable explanations for the care and treatment given. But, there are also those that appear to be questionable cases that become much stronger after review of the records, and determining what the doctors did – or did not do – for the patient.
To collect medical records from Franklin Square Hospital, send correspondence to:
Franklin Square Hospital
Attention: Medical Records Deparment
9000 Franklin Square Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21237
Does Franklin Square Get Sued for Malpractice Frequently?
Yes. Franklin Square is one of the largest hospitals in Baltimore, with annual revenues of around $500 million. Franklin Square (which is now part of the MedStar network) is named as a defendant in a handful of Maryland medical malpractice lawsuits every year. The most common types of medical malpractice claims against Franklin Square Hospital include: surgical error, misdiagnosis, and birth injury.
What Impacts the Value of a Franklin Square Hospital Malpractice Case?
There is no fixed payout for a medical malpractice case against Franklin Square Hospital. The value of any claim depends first and foremost on the severity and permanence of the injury. Cases involving catastrophic harm such as permanent disability, significant neurological damage, organ failure, or wrongful death carry substantially greater settlement and verdict potential than cases involving temporary complications that resolve.
But injury severity is only part of the equation. In Maryland, case value is also shaped by the strength of the liability evidence, the clarity of the medical error, the credibility of expert testimony, the amount of economic damages such as lost wages and future medical care, and the state’s cap on noneconomic damages. Venue can also matter.
In short, the more serious the harm and the clearer the negligence, the higher the potential value of the case. Each claim must be evaluated on its specific medical facts, long term impact, and the available evidence.
Contact Us
If you were injured at Franklin Square Hospital or any other hospital in Maryland, contact our medical malpractice lawyers at 1.800.553.8082, or send us a free internet request for consultation. We have experience reviewing medical records and can tell you if you are eligible for a lawsuit.
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