Maryland Medical Board Does Something in Botched Abortion Case!

There is a complicated and largely adversarial relationship between the lawyers who represent victims of Maryland medical malpractice and the Maryland Board of Physicians. We feel the Board merely serves as window-dressing covering up blatant acts of negligence on the part of Maryland doctors that sometimes kill and maim innocent patients.

The Medical Board doubtless feels it is in a pickle attempting to police its members without providing fodder for medical negligence lawsuits.

So when the Board upheld the suspension of the medical licenses of two Maryland physicians and ordered a non-Maryland doctor to stop practicing medicine here, we tend to take notice and say why? http://www.mbp.state.md.us/BPQAPP/orders/D4835208.310.pdf

Could it be because the alleged botched abortion which culminated in the patient suffering a perforated uterus was reported by another doctor? Or is it because the Board has been confronted with an even grimmer abortion related death case recently? See: http://www.mbp.state.md.us/BPQAPP/orders/d0925509.080.pdf It could also be political of course but the fact is that the Board seems to rarely draw public attention for its actions.

The behavior of the doctors in the two cases appears reprehensible, in one case apparently killing the patient with anesthesia and in the other driving the patient to an emergency room after the abortion went awry and being less than forthcoming about where the bleeding, semi-coherent patient had come from.

The bottom line is that the suspensions make a lot of sense given the alleged facts of the incidents. It would just be nice if the Board took its responsibilities more seriously in all cases.