Malpractice Suit Against Former Md. Cardiologist Now In Hands Of Jury
TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) -- Closing arguments are finished in the case against a former cardiologist, once known as the best heart doctor in Baltimore County. It's a case that dates back four years and involves hundreds of patients receiving unnecessary stents.
Rochelle Ritchie has both sides of the case.
The attorney for the wealthy plaintiff calls the former physician's actions "sloppy" and "dangerous." A jury will now decide whether or not there was a breach in standard care.
It's the beginning of the end in a malpractice case that rocked the cardiology community at St. Joseph Medical Center, after Dr. Mark Midei, the hospital's former catheterization lab director, was accused of giving patients unnecessary cardiac stents.
"Dr. Midei said it was 90 percent. And after they reviewed everything, it was 10 percent," a patient said in 2011.
The percentages refer to blockages in blood vessels. The higher the number, the greater need for a stent.
The case dates back to 2009, when letters where first mailed to Midei's patients, including businessman Glenn Weinberg, who's a partner of the company behind such large developments like the Maryland Live! Casino.
His case is now being heard in Baltimore County Circuit Court. He claims he lost about $50 million after scaling back in business to deal with matters of the heart after being diagnosed by Midei.
In court Monday, Weinberg's attorney told the jury: "Midei inserted three metal objects into a man's heart where they don't belong."
Last week, Midei testified Weinberg would have died without the procedure. Midei's attorneys also fired back, saying tests clearly showed Weinberg had unknowingly suffered a heart attack and "there were abnormal changes to the heart."
Midei was an independent contractor and had been the head of the St. Joseph catheterization lab since 1995, where he performed thousands of cardiac stent operations.
"What I did, was what I would want for myself, for anybody in my family--my mother, my father. They were treated appropriately and with the highest regard for their well-being," Midei said.
He has since resigned from St. Joseph Medical Center, which is also listed in the $150 million lawsuit.
Closing arguments are finished. The case is now in the hands of the jury.
Midei lost his medical license in 2011.
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