Coma or Persistent Vegetative State

If someone in your family is in a coma or persistent vegetative state (PVS) due to a health care professional’s negligence, we can help. At Arfaa Law Group, Baltimore medical malpractice attorney Julia Arfaa can examine the facts of the case and investigate the cause of your loved one’s injuries. We are committed to helping families pursue compensation for a victim’s harm, advocating for their rights at every step of the way.

A coma is a condition in which a patient cannot be awakened and does not respond to pain, light, or sound in a normal way. Put another way, people in a coma are in a deep state of unconsciousness and cannot respond to external stimuli. A person in a coma may transition into PVS. In a vegetative state, the person is still unconscious. People in PVS are not brain dead; instead, the patient has lower brain functions and can breathe, blink, and smile on their own. However, these movements are typically purely spontaneous.

If your loved one’s coma or PVS was triggered by medical negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Some of the errors that may cause a patient to enter PVS include failing to diagnose diabetes, failing to properly treat an infection like meningitis or encephalitis, or mistakes involving anesthesia or brain surgery.

Medical malpractice claims are brought under the theory of negligence. The central issues in these cases are whether the medical professional failed to use the degree of care that a capable medical professional in the same or similar circumstances would use and, if so, whether this inadequate care caused harm to the patient. Both of these issues may be illuminated by expert witnesses, and a case often hinges on whether the plaintiff or the defendant retains a more persuasive witness. If medical malpractice caused your loved one’s death after they entered a coma, you may be able to file a wrongful death claim against the at-fault party.

Under Maryland law, victims of medical malpractice may seek both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include compensation for things like medical bills, therapy costs, and lost wages. Non-economic damages encompass losses that are harder to quantify, such as pain and suffering, scarring, mental anguish, and disfigurement. It is important to note that non-economic damages are capped in Maryland. In 2016, that cap is in the amount of $770,000 for medical malpractice cases and $962,500 for wrongful death cases brought by two or more surviving family members.

If your loved one has fallen into a coma or a persistent vegetative state as a result of health care negligence, it is important to seek the guidance of a Baltimore medical malpractice attorney. At Arfaa Law Group, we are dedicated to holding negligent doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals accountable for the harm that they cause. We can represent people who need a surgical error attorney or guidance in other health care negligence claims throughout the state of Maryland. To set up a free consultation about your case, call 410-889-1850 or contact us online.