From Friday's Maryland Court of Appeals opinion, Quitty v. Spangler, in which the Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed the jury's $13 million award in a tragic case of
a boy who was born with severe cerebral palsy, a good summary of the difference between informed consent and medical malpractice in Maryland:
"In a count alleging medical malpractice, a patient asserts that a healthcare provider breached duty to exercise ordinary medical care and skill based upon the standard of care in the profession, see, e.g., Dehn v. Edgecombe, 384 Md. 606, 618, 865 A.2d 603, 610 (2005) Medical malpractice is predicated upon the failure to exercise requisite medical skill and, being tortious in nature, general rules of negligence usually apply in determining liability.") (internal quotations and citations omitted), while in a breach of informed consent count, a patient complains that a healthcare provider breached a duty to obtain effective consent to treatment or procedure by failing to divulge information that would be material to his/her decision about whether to submit to, or to continue with, that treatment or procedure."
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