Alfred Clarke

Top rated Medical Malpractice attorney in Washington, Washington DC

Patrick Malone & Associates, P.C.

Practice areas: Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury

Licensed in Washington DC since: 2007

Education: George Mason University School of Law

Languages spoken: English, Italian

Selected to Super Lawyers: 2019 - 2025

Selected to Rising Stars: 2016 - 2017

Free Consultation

Patrick Malone & Associates, P.C.

1310 L Street, N.W.
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202-742-1500 Email: Alfred Clarke Visit website

Al Clarke is an experienced trial attorney who focuses his practice on catastrophic injury cases, with a particular emphasis on medical malpractice, pharmaceutical drug, and medical device litigation. He is a strategic litigator whose belief in early and aggressive case development has allowed him to obtain outstanding results for his clients.

Prior to joining Patrick Malone & Associates, Mr. Clarke practiced at one of the nation’s largest insurance defense firms, where he specialized in medical malpractice litigation. During these years, Mr. Clarke defended health care professionals, including doctors and hospitals, in complex medical malpractice cases. He has significant experience in all aspects of litigation, from preliminary case investigation through trial and appeal. Now he brings this experience to work on behalf of clients who have been seriously injured.

Mr. Clarke also has experience working inside the pharmaceutical industry, which gives him unique insight into representing clients injured by dangerous drugs and other medical products. After graduating from the University of Richmond with a degree in business administration, he spent several years working for one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers. He then attended George Mason University School of Law on a scholarship and graduated with honors. While in law school, Mr. Clarke served as the Vice President of the Moot Court Board and competed in a number of moot court competitions. Mr. Clarke won First Place in the annual National First Amendment Moot Court Competition held at Vanderbilt Law School. He also won First Place in the annual George Mason School of Law Trial Advocacy Competition. Following law school, Mr. Clarke spent one year as a judicial clerk to the Judges of the Circuit Court for Arlington County, Virginia.

Mr. Clarke is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland.

First Admitted: 2007, Washington DC

Professional Webpage: http://www.patrickmalonelaw.com/who-we-are/our-attorneys/alf...

Verdicts / Settlements (Case Results)

$750,000 Settlement - Medical Malpractice Case Involving an Elderly Patient with Dementia and Mental Illness Who Was Negligently Discharged from a Hospital ER Alone and Unsupervised and Was Later Killed When Struck by a Vehicle While Walking Along the Road, 2023
$2,000,000 Settlement - Medical Malpractice Case Involving a Patient Who Developed a Stage IV Pressure Wound While Hospitalized in the ICU, 2023
$10,000,000 Settlement - Pedestrian is Hit by a Garbage Truck and Suffers a Severe Crush Injury to Her Foot and Ankle That Results in a Below-the-Knee Amputation of Her Left Leg, 2021
$4,500,000 Confidential Settlement - Medical Malpractice Case Involving Baby Born With Genetic Defect, 2020
$900,000 Settlement - Alzheimer's Patient Wanders from Nursing Home and Dies. 88-year-old resident suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease wandered out of her assisted living facility due to the negligent supervision and monitoring of the facility staff., 2000
$1,000,000 Settlement - Medical Malpractice Case Against Military Hospital For Failure to Recognize Internal Bleeding in a Patient Post-Biopsy., 2019
$1,900,000 Settlement - Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Case Involving Claims of Medical Negligence Against an Anesthesiologist Settles During Trial for $1.9 Million., 2019
$1,650,000 Settlement - Negligently Performed Laparoscopic Surgery Results In Perforated Artery And Massive Blood Loss. Plaintiff, a 32-year-old mother of two, presented to a hospital emergency department with complaints of severe right-sided pelvic pain. The defendant gynecologist suspected a perforated ovarian cyst and performed an exploratory laparoscopy. During the surgery, the defendant perforated the plaintiff’s right common iliac artery while attempting to insert a secondary trocar under direct visualization. There was evidence that the defendant negligently handled the trocar, failed to maintain proper control of the trocar, and inserted the trocar too deep into the plaintiff’s pelvis. The through-and-through arterial perforation resulted in massive bleeding and hypovolemic shock. The medical records and witness testimony suggest that the defendant waited approximately 20 minutes after discovery of the trocar injury and resultant bleeding before converting the procedure to an open laparotomy, which was necessary to identify the source of and stop the bleeding. A general surgeon was called in, and the arterial injury was ultimately repaired. The plaintiff lost over half of her body’s total blood volume during the surgery. The plaintiff was immediately airlifted to a trauma center where she was diagnosed with critical limb ischemia. A clot had formed at the site of the iliac artery perforation and cut off the blood flow to the plaintiff’s right leg. In an effort to save her leg, a femoral-to-femoral bypass surgery was performed in which a graft was placed to deliver blood from plaintiff’s left femoral artery to her right femoral artery, thereby restoring blood flow to the entire right lower extremity. As a result of the defendant’s negligence, the plaintiff suffered significant and permanent neurologic and vascular injuries. The plaintiff currently suffers from neuropathy of her right leg and complex regional pain syndrome caused by the lack of blood flow to her right lower extremity following the injury to her iliac artery. She also suffers from claudication (pain caused by insufficient blood flow during exercise), which has resulted in functional impairment and physical limitations. In addition, plaintiff will require regular and life-long monitoring of her bypass graft, which, according to plaintiff’s experts, will need to be revised/replaced approximately once every ten years. The case was resolved for $1.65 million.
$1,175,000 Settlement - Army Nurse Sues Her Own Hospital for Letting Her Baby Die in Botched Labor and Delivery. The plaintiff was a 26-year-old, active-duty enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army who worked as a nurse at Fort Belvoir Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia. In June 2013, she was admitted to the same hospital for induction of labor and delivery of her full-term baby boy. Shortly after her arrival, the expectant mother was connected to an electronic fetal monitor, and Fort Belvoir physicians and nurses began administering Pitocin, a uterotonic hormone that is given to promote contractions and induce labor. One of the risks associated with Pitocin is that it can cause fetal distress. Various abnormal fetal heart rate patterns may be signs of fetal distress. When faced with these abnormal fetal heart rate patterns, the standard of care mandates that intrauterine resuscitative measures be performed. These measures include stopping the Pitocin, changing the mother’s position, and administering oxygen and fluids. By 9:30 a.m., the primary labor and delivery nurse assigned to the plaintiff identified variable decelerations of the baby’s heart rate. The nurse testified that variable decelerations are abnormal and concerning heart rate patterns that are caused by compression of the umbilical cord. By 10:30 a.m., the nurse identified late decelerations, which she admitted was a concerning finding. In response, she notified the resident obstetrician and began intrauterine resuscitation measures including oxygen by mask, boluses of intravenous fluids, and shifting the mother’s position, all of which continued uninterrupted for the remainder of the labor. However, neither the nurse nor the resident physician discontinued Pitocin. As the hours went by, the baby showed increasing signs of fetal distress. By 3:00 p.m., the baby was experiencing recurrent variable and recurrent late decelerations with almost every contraction. These decelerations, which are caused by a decrease in blood and oxygen flow to the baby, were becoming more frequent and severe. By 5:30 p.m., there was an additional concerning finding – tachycardia – which is an abnormally high baseline fetal heart rate. Again, no one stopped the Pitocin or took any further resuscitative measures to improve the fetal heart rate pattern. At 5:50 p.m., the nurse and the resident physician finally called the on-call supervising obstetrician to evaluate the patient. Upon arrival, supervising physician reviewed the electronic fetal monitoring strips and identified an abnormal, non-reassuring pattern of recurrent variable and late decelerations with tachycardia. Nevertheless, she failed to stop the Pitocin and failed to immediately deliver the baby via C-section. Rather, she instructed the mother to continue pushing. It was not until 6:30 p.m. that the supervising physician decided to proceed with an expedited, vacuum-assisted vaginal delivery. The baby boy was born at 6:42 p.m. Upon delivery, he was pale and limp, and his heart rate was 50 beats per minute (normal fetal heart rate is 110-160 beats per minute). A Code Blue was called and resuscitation efforts were immediately initiated. Despite exhaustive resuscitation efforts, the baby was pronounced dead at 7:36 p.m. Umbilical cord gases were dramatically abnormal and consistent with significant and progressive hypoxia and acidosis. The plaintiff’s baby died because he was deprived of oxygen over a prolonged period of time. The plaintiff alleged that the Army’s employees at Fort Belvoir Hospital violated the standard of care and were negligent by failing to appreciate the signs of progressive fetal distress as demonstrated by the abnormal and non-reassuring fetal heart rate patterns that persisted and progressively worsened for hours before delivery, by failing to stop the Pitocin in the face of progressive fetal distress, and by failing to deliver the baby earlier via C-section. The Plaintiff filed an administrative claim and subsequently a lawsuit against the United States of America under the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA). The case was settled after a mediation with a U.S. magistrate judge for $1.175 million.