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A Doctor Failed to Monitor My Loved One. Can I File a Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawsuit?
Posted on behalf of Peter T. Nicholl in Medical Malpractice Published on November 9, 2023 and updated on April 30, 2026.
Doctors and other health care providers have many responsibilities beyond diagnosing and treating patients, including monitoring patients who are receiving treatment. When health care providers fail to monitor patients, the results can be catastrophic or even fatal.
Patients who were injured because of a failure to monitor may be able to file a Maryland medical malpractice lawsuit. However, there are many factors to consider, which is why victims should speak to an experienced local Baltimore, MD medical malpractice lawyer about their potential options.
Can I file a medical malpractice lawsuit for failure to monitor a patient in Maryland?
Yes. You can file a claim if a healthcare provider failed to properly monitor your condition and that lapse breached the accepted standard of care, leading to preventable injury or complications. Liability requires proving negligence and a direct link between the lack of monitoring and the harm suffered.
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What is Failure to Monitor?
Failure to monitor means a doctor, nurse or other medical professional involved in your treatment failed to take reasonable steps to monitor your treatment and your overall condition. This often means monitoring patients when they are in the hospital, but it also includes monitoring patients who are being treated while going about their daily lives. Failing to monitor a patient can cause their condition to deteriorate or even become life-threatening.
When do Medical Professionals Need to Monitor Patients?
There are numerous situations in which medical professionals have a duty of care to provide appropriate monitoring of their patients.
During Surgery and When the Patient Received Anesthesia
So many things can go wrong during surgery, and not just because the patient is under local or general anesthesia. Surgeons and the other medical professionals involved in the procedure need to keep a close eye on the patient’s vital signs, especially oxygen levels and heart rate. Monitoring is essential to help prevent severe complications, including fatal injury.
During a Course of Treatment
If doctors prescribe medicine or refer you to a specialist, they need to check in to determine how the treatment is going and if there are any side effects. Sometimes doctors need to revise the treatment based on how the patient is responding, particularly if there are unexpected side effects. Monitoring patients during treatment also helps doctors confirm their diagnosis.
During Labor and Delivery
Doctors need to carefully monitor the mother and the unborn baby for signs of distress. This includes monitoring oxygen levels and the fetal heartbeat. If doctors do not closely monitor the mother and the fetus, there is a risk of long-term or fatal injury. For example, oxygen deprivation can cause permanent brain damage.
When Patients Have Been Specifically Put Under Observation
Patients may be put under observation after surgery, because they are in critical condition after being severely injured in an accident, or because they are a suicide risk. Observation may also be necessary after a severe infection.
What are Some Examples of Failure to Monitor?
These are some examples of doctors and other medical professionals failing to monitor patients under their care:
- Failing to monitor patients when they are transferred from one part of the hospital to another
- Failing to monitor oxygen levels when a patient is under anesthesia
- Failing to monitor a newborn’s vital signs
- Failing to monitor a pregnant mother’s vital signs when she is in labor
- Failing to monitor a patient who is undergoing rehabilitation, such as swimming, walking or exercises
- Failing to correctly transfer information about a patient who is getting moved to another facility
- Failing to conduct a thorough evaluation of a patient at a follow-up appointment, including failing to ask appropriate questions
- Failing to determine if a prescription medication is causing severe side effects
- Failing to check-in on a patient who is recovering from surgery to look for signs of infection or failing vital signs
- Failing to make sure patients are receiving the correct medication while at the hospital
- Failing to carefully monitor cancer treatment to determine if it is working and if the cancer is spreading
- And more
How Failure to Monitor Puts Patients at Risk
Failing to monitor patients can have life-threatening consequences. For instance, unborn babies can suffer permanent brain damage that causes lifelong disability, such as cerebral palsy. Patients undergoing surgery could also suffer permanent brain damage because doctors did not make sure the patient was receiving oxygen.
Failing to monitor a patient’s treatment could result in an incorrect diagnosis. If doctors had kept a closer eye on the patient, they may have discovered the treatment was not working. This may have led them to consider another type of treatment for a different diagnosis.
Monitoring is particularly important after surgery as vital signs may dip and doctors may need to act quickly to save the patient’s life. Close monitoring can help doctors identify infections or other problems that could result in serious or fatal injury. These problems could include a drop in blood pressure or signs of a heart attack or stroke. Some patients may experience excessive bleeding.
Liability for Failing to Monitor a Patient’s Treatment
In a failure to monitor claim, victims’ attorneys need to prove that another physician in a similar situation would have done more to monitor the patient. Your lawyer must also establish that the failure to monitor resulted in damages, such as medical costs because you needed additional care.
While medical malpractice claims are often made against doctors, there are other parties who may bear liability. For example, nurses may be liable for failing to monitor. Doctors are often busy with other tasks and delegate some of their responsibilities to nurses and hospital staff.
Here are some examples of parties that may bear liability for failure to monitor:
- Anesthesiologists who do not monitor patients who are under anesthesia
- Hospital staff who did not respond to or report problems
- Obstetricians who do not detect signs of fetal distress, such as a lack of oxygen
- Hospitals that did not have adequate procedures to make sure patients are monitored
It can be challenging to find out who may be liable for failing to monitor a patient. Sometimes hospitals or medical facilities are vicariously liable for the actions of their employees.
If you or your loved one were injured because of a failure to monitor, you should contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney with the resources and legal knowledge to investigate these types of cases.
Frequently Asked Questions About Failure to Monitor Lawsuits in Maryland
Can failure to monitor a patient be medical malpractice?
Yes, failure to monitor a patient may be medical malpractice if healthcare providers failed to track vital signs, symptoms, lab results or changes in condition that required action. Liability depends on whether the lack of monitoring breached the standard of care and caused preventable harm. The Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl can evaluate whether monitoring failures contributed to the injury.
What does failure to monitor mean in a medical malpractice case?
Failure to monitor means a provider did not properly observe, document or respond to a patient’s condition during treatment, recovery or hospitalization. In a malpractice case, the issue is whether timely monitoring would have revealed warning signs and allowed earlier intervention. Missed changes in condition can support liability when they lead to avoidable injury.
What injuries can result from poor patient monitoring?
Poor patient monitoring can lead to respiratory distress, cardiac complications, infection, internal bleeding, medication reactions, falls, brain injury or death. These injuries may be legally actionable when providers failed to recognize or respond to signs of deterioration. The Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl can review whether the harm was preventable with proper monitoring.
Can a hospital be liable for not monitoring a patient?
Yes, a hospital may be liable if nurses, doctors or staff failed to monitor a patient according to accepted medical standards. Liability may involve inadequate staffing, missed vital sign checks, ignored alarms, poor communication or failure to escalate concerns. The legal question is whether the monitoring failure caused injury that proper care could have prevented.
What evidence helps prove a failure to monitor claim?
Important evidence may include nursing notes, vital sign records, medication logs, alarm reports, lab results, physician orders, imaging reports and discharge records. These records help show what monitoring was required, whether it occurred and when warning signs appeared. The Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl can identify gaps in the medical timeline that may support a claim.
Is failure to respond to abnormal vital signs malpractice?
Yes, failure to respond to abnormal vital signs may be malpractice when the signs indicated a serious medical problem requiring timely action. Abnormal blood pressure, oxygen levels, heart rate, temperature or respiratory rate can signal deterioration. If providers ignored those changes and the patient suffered harm, the failure may support a negligence claim.
When should I contact a lawyer about a failure to monitor injury?
You should contact a lawyer when a patient’s condition worsened after staff failed to check, document or respond to warning signs. Failure to monitor cases often require careful review of records, timing, escalation steps and Maryland filing deadlines. The Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl can assess whether the facts show preventable injury.
What damages may be recovered in a failure to monitor lawsuit?
Damages may include medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, future care needs, permanent disability and reduced quality of life. The value of the case depends on how the monitoring failure changed the patient’s outcome. In severe cases, failure to monitor may also support a wrongful death claim.
Call to Discuss Your Failure to Monitor Claim
Health care professionals in Maryland are expected to take reasonable care to monitor patients to determine how treatment is going and respond appropriately to problems that may arise. Failure to monitor patients can have severe consequences, particularly when the patient is in labor or has recently experienced a life-threatening health problem.
Victims and their loved ones should contact an experienced lawyer to determine if they may be able to seek compensation through a Maryland medical malpractice lawsuit.
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Contact The Law Offices of Peter T. Nicholl today: 410-297-0271.
