Maryland Lawsuits AgainstSt Joseph Medical Center Inc

According to Maryland Judiciary Case Search, St Joseph Medical Center, entered with that exact spelling, has been sued for medical malpractice 175 times and for tort claims 10 times since 2012. The exact search criteria used on Maryland Judiciary Case Search is as follows:  Company: St Joseph Medical Center, Party Type: Defendant, Case Type: Civil (Medical Malpractice & Other Tort), Court System: Circuit Court only, County: Default All, Filing Date: 9/26/2012-6/09/2022.

The Facility

A 300-bed medical center located in Towson, MD, St. Joseph Medical Center was founded in 1864 under a firm faith based, Catholic mission statement that is still observed today. In 1996 the hospital was absorbed by Catholic Health Initiatives (CIH), a conglomerate of several Catholic health care systems. CIH continued to own and operate the facility until 2012, when it was acquired by the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) following an extended period of financial hardship. The monetary losses were due in large part to class action litigation filed against Dr. Mark Midei, a world- renowned cardiologist who built up a large practice at St. Joseph. In 2009, hundreds of his patients were informed that heart stents he recommended and placed were potentially unnecessary, and his medical license was eventually revoked. In 2014, a group of his former patients represented by William H. Murphy of Murphy Falcon & Murthy and The Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos P.C. were awarded a $37 million settlement by a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge.

The official name of the facility is University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. When this title is entered on Maryland Judiciary Case Search using the same metrics listed above, the medical malpractice case count increases by six and the other tort case count increases by one. You can find lawsuits against the University of Maryland Medical System Corporation here.

Statistics on St. Joseph Medical Center

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

• 14,722 Admissions
• 63,710 Outpatient Visits
• 78,432 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

St. Joseph Lawsuits in the News

In 2020, St. Joseph Medical Center was named as a co-defendant along with UMMS in a lawsuit alleging discrimination against a transgender man. According to the lawsuit, which is still ongoing, Jesse Hammons was scheduled to undergo a gender-affirming hysterectomy at St. Joseph. However, hospital administrators apparently canceled the surgery on the grounds that it violated the facility’s Catholic faith-based directives. Hammons, along with his attorneys, argued in a complaint that the hysterectomy was a medically necessary part of his gender dysphoria treatment and that St. Joseph violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights as well as the Affordable Care Act by refusing to perform the procedure. However, a federal judge ultimately ruled that UMMS and its facilities, including St. Joseph Medical Center, function as “arms of the state” and are thus subject to governmental immunity from civil rights lawsuits. Therefore, the only element of Hammons’ case still under consideration is whether the defendants violated the Affordable Care Act’s stipulation against sex discrimination in health care settings.

St. Joseph was the center of a recent high-profile medical malpractice suit filed by a prominent Baltimore area corporate attorney. In 2017, Katrina Dennis went to an urgent care facility complaining of back pain and was sent to a nearby emergency room for further testing. There, she received the devastating news that she had advanced breast cancer. The disease had spread to her blood, bones, and internal organs, rendering the chances of recovery unlikely. Dennis was treated for an early-stage breast tumor two years earlier at St. Joseph Medical Center. She contended that the surgeon who removed the tumor, Dr. Michael Schultz, did not adequately explain that pre-operative testing indicated a possible spread of malignant cells, leading her to believe her cancer was cured. Dennis also alleged that Schultz and other medical staff members at St. Joseph dissuaded her from taking Tamoxifen, a potentially life-saving drug that can prevent the spread of cancer cells after tumor removal surgery.

Following her terminal diagnosis, Dennis filed a medical malpractice lawsuit seeking $24 million in damages from Dr. Schultz and St. Joseph Medical Center. In August 2019, the case went to trial in the Baltimore County Circuit Court and was scheduled to last two weeks. However, a week into the trial, Dennis died from complications of late-stage breast cancer. The presiding judge declared a mistrial and dismissed the case, a decision that Dennis’ attorney did not oppose.

Satellite Locations

There are several satellite locations affiliated with St. Joseph Medical Center, including the St. Joseph Medical Group, a network of physicians that provide primary and specialty care throughout the Baltimore area. Medical malpractice lawsuits are the most common scenario in which St. Joseph Medical Center is a defendant, followed by tort claims. As the hospital is based in Baltimore County, most of the cases filed in the Maryland circuit court system against St. Joseph Medical Center were in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

Some of the major personal injury firms that regularly sue St. Joseph Medical Center for medical malpractice are: Weltchek, Mallahan & Weltchek; Goodell, DeVries, Leech & Dann, LLP; Chapman, Bowling & Scott, PA; and Brown Goldstein & Levy LLP. If you have been injured by St. Joseph Medical Center, you should contact a personal injury lawyer to assess your claim.

Last updated June 10, 2022