$970.9K medical malpractice verdict might be largest in Talbot County history

A Talbot County jury might have awarded last week the largest medical malpractice verdict in the Maryland county’s history.

A jury awarded a $970,900 verdict Thursday to Bruce Clarke, who was permanently injured after an alleged mistake during a surgery to repair a hernia was not immediately corrected.

The day after Christmas in 2022, Clark, who was 76 at the time, went to the hospital because he was vomiting and experiencing pain in his chest and abdomen. He was diagnosed with a large hiatal hernia, meaning part of his stomach had pushed upward into his chest cavity through an opening in the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the abdomen and the chest.

Surgeon John Moon, of the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton, performed a robotic surgery to repair the hernia, using a console and screen to maneuver a camera and the surgical equipment. During the surgery, he allegedly created a hole in the upper part of Clarke’s stomach and didn’t notice the error before ending the surgery.

Clarke’s lawyers, Gloria Worch and Jim Cardea of Schochor, Staton, Goldberg & Cardea in Baltimore, said a “perforation” like this is a known complication in hernia surgeries, and that the surgeon should have seen and fixed it during the operation.

“Just an easy suture and primary repair,” Worch said, “and the recovery would have been just the same as an uncomplicated surgery.”

Instead, Clarke became “severely sick,” Worch said, developing sepsis and a “plethora of other problems.”

After a four-day trial, the jury found that Moon violated the standard of care by not fixing the perforation during the initial surgery and caused the harm that Clarke suffered thereafter. Worch and Cardea said the jury deliberated for about two and a half hours.

Clarke was awarded $209,000 for past medical bills, $121,900 for future medical bills and $640,000 for pain and suffering, which is below the cap on noneconomic damages.

Moon and UM Shore Medical Center at Easton were represented by Curtis Booth of Booth, Cropper & Marriner in Easton.

“Despite the jury’s verdict, we are grateful for the opportunity to defend the care our providers rendered to the plaintiff,” Michael Schwartzberg, a spokesperson for the University of Maryland Medical System, stated in an email. “While we are sensitive to the fact that Mr. Clarke suffered injuries, we strongly believe the evidence clearly showed that clinicians followed the standard of care in this case.”

Worch and Cardea believe it to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Talbot County’s history, based on experience, conversations with other lawyers and online searches for verdicts.

This wasn’t Cardea’s first victory in Talbot County. In 2019, he won a $150,000 verdict in a medical malpractice case — also against UM Shore Medical Center at Easton — on behalf of a woman who had to have a hysterectomy and a kidney removed after a botched procedure.

Clarke was active and healthy before the episode, according to Worch.

“Boating, fishing, crabbing,” the attorney said.

Now, Clarke suffers from chronic cough, pain, anxiety and sleep deprivation, and requires physical therapy and permanent care.

“He’s been robbed of his independence,” Worch said.