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Midei Malpratice Suit Now In Hands Of Jury

TOWSON, Md. (WJZ) -- A $150 million lawsuit against a Baltimore County hospital and one of its former doctors is now in the hands of the jury. The month-long case involves a physician once called the best heart doctor in the country.

Rochelle Ritchie has more on Tuesday's jury deliberations.

The jurors started deliberating early Tuesday morning. There are already signs that they're having problems coming up with a verdict.

Dr. Mark Midei remains at the center of a $150 million malpractice lawsuit in which he's accused of giving his patients unnecessary cardiac stents while practicing at St. Joseph Medical Center.

"They were treated appropriately and with the highest regard for their well-being," he said.

Wealthy businessman Glenn Weinberg is one of the patients who's suing Midei. He blames Midei for leading him to believe he had coronary heart disease and was in need of several stents.

Midei has defended his actions from the beginning.

"What I did was what I would want for myself, for anybody in my family," Midei said.

The case brings to life the legal ramifications physicians face in deciding what's best for a patient.

"On the one hand, what it shows is any physician has potential malpractice liability if he does, or fails to do, for a patient what he or she should do," said Byron Warnken, warnkenlaw.com.

Weinberg's attorney claims Midei put stents in a man's heart where they don't belong. Midei's attorneys fired back, telling the jury Weinberg had already suffered a silent heart attack and may have died without the stent. With strong arguments from both sides, the case is now left in the hands of the jury.

"I think what the jury's got to decide is, is the harm what we call causally connected," Warnken said.

Tuesday afternoon, the jury sent a note to the judge reading, "We are unable to reach a unanimous decision. Some are ready to stop deliberating."

The jury has to come back Wednesday morning to decide if there was a breach in standard care.

St. Joseph Medical Center is under new ownership since this lawsuit surfaced.

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