Personal Injury Law

Baltimore City Jury Awards Brooke Greenberg $250,000 for Maryland Personal Injuries in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against Johns Hopkins Hospital

By Jack Lebowitz, Esq. and Vadim Mzhen, Esq.

A Maryland jury has awarded Brooke Greenberg $250,000 for Baltimore medical malpractice injuries she sustained while at Johns Hopkins Children's Center after she underwent a medical procedure to replace her feeding tube in 2007. The Reisterstown teenager is known internationally for never aging past infancy, despite the fact that she is 17-years-old.

After she was discharged from the hospital, her home nurse and parents noticed that there were bruises on her legs and arms. Her parents sued for Maryland medical malpractice involving injuries to a minor on her behalf.

Last week, a Baltimore city jury found the famous hospital in breach of the standard of care when Greenberg was inappropriately restrained after the surgery. They awarded her damages for the emotional trauma and physical pain she suffered.

The hospital is debating whether to appeal the jury verdict. Hospital officials claim that Greenberg was suffering from a disorder that caused spontaneous bruising. However, the jury determined otherwise.

Greenberg has never developed past infancy. Scientists are trying to determine the cause of her mysterious condition.

Hospitals are supposed to provide each patient with the standard of care. Failure to meet that standard of care or deviating from that standard can be cause for filing a Maryland personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit if the patient gets hurt, suffers emotional trauma, or dies.

Medication mixups, poor sanitation, surgical errors, inappropriate restraints, wrong diagnosis, delayed diagnosis, anesthesia errors, nursing negligence, failure to check vitals, and failure to do follow-ups following procedures are some of the reasons why people have sued for Maryland medical malpractice.

Hopkins weighs appeal of verdict in girl's bruising, The Baltimore Sun, February 10, 2010

Duly noted: Girl who doesn?t age wins suit against Johns Hopkins, MDDailyRecord, February 15, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Johns Hopkins Children's Center

The Curious Case of Brooke Greenberg: 16-Year-Old Has the Body and Mind of a Toddler, FoxNews, August 7, 2009

Full post as published by Maryland Accident Law Blog on February 16, 2010 (boomark / email).