Under Florida personal injury laws, medical malpractice is an issue that arises when a doctor, a medical professional other than a doctor, or a healthcare organization provides health care that falls below the standard of care required in diagnosing, treating, or managing a patient.
When the substandard care results in injury to the patient, there is malpractice. The deviation from the standard of care that is required for all medical professionals often stems from negligence. So, medical malpractice law belongs to the domain of personal injury law.
Medical malpractice law allows injured patients to file lawsuits against negligent medical professionals or organizations. It also allows them to recover damages that compensate them for the economic and non-economic losses they suffer because of their injuries.
Whether or not a medical professional may be held liable for injuries to a patient depends upon the facts and circumstances of each specific case as well as the medical malpractice law in the state in which the malpractice occurs.
Therefore, a resident of Florida may believe they have sustained injuries as a result of medical malpractice. If so, they should consult a local Florida personal injury lawyer to learn more about the relevant Florida malpractice law.
What Is Medical Malpractice Liability?
Medical malpractice liability refers to which persons or organizations are legally responsible for the injuries a person suffers because of substandard medical care.
In general, this party is typically the one who breached their duty of care and was the actual cause of the patient’s injuries. However, figuring out exactly who was liable and in what way they were negligent can sometimes be a challenge. This is because medical malpractice liability often involves more than one party.
For example, it is possible to divide medical malpractice liability between a doctor and a nurse (or other medical personnel) when their combined negligent conduct led to a patient’s injury. It is certainly possible for the negligence of more than one professional to contribute to a victim’s injury.
In addition, the organization itself, e.g., a hospital, can also be liable for medical malpractice. This is especially true in cases in which a hospital’s overall policy or quality of care for patients falls below the applicable standard that applies to hospitals.
Some parties who can be held liable for medical malpractice include general practitioners, nurses, hospitals, surgeons, dentists, psychiatrists, chiropractors, gynecologists, and X-ray technicians.
What Are the Types of Medical Malpractice Claims?
Some common examples of medical malpractice claims include the following:
- Improperly diagnosing or failing to diagnose a patient’s condition;
- Prescribing the wrong treatment;
- Prescribing the wrong medication or the wrong dosage of medication;
- Operating on the wrong body part, e.g., amputating a person’s left leg instead of their right leg;
- Failing to follow up after a patient undergoes a serious procedure;
- Prematurely discharging a patient before they have recovered well enough;
- Leaving behind medical equipment (e.g., instruments or sponges left inside a patient) during surgery;
- Not providing information or receiving informed consent before a patient undergoes surgery; and
- Entering erroneous data into a patient’s medical chart, causing harm to the patient.
How Do I Sue for Medical Malpractice?
As in every other state, the first step a Florida lawyer would take would be to gather all the medical records relevant to the care their client received. The lawyer would then submit the records to a medical professional in the same area of practice as the medical professionals who treated the client.
More than one expert professional may be involved in determining whether there was malpractice in the care of their client and, if so, who provided the substandard care and in exactly what way the care was substandard.
In addition, a victim’s lawyer must have their client’s injuries and the consequences of them analyzed. A lawyer would want to document their client’s injuries and how it may have affected their employment and what effect they may have in the future.
Once the Florida personal injury lawyer is confident that they have a solid case for malpractice and can prove that malpractice occurred, they can draft and file a complaint in a Florida civil court. A copy must be served on all of the medical professionals named as defendants in the complaint. The defendants then have 30 days to file their answer to the complaint.
If multiple parties are at fault, such as a doctor, a nurse, and the hospital, and the damages in the case exceed $25,000, liability is apportioned among the defendants. Even if the doctor was at fault, through the legal doctrine of vicarious liability, the hospital would also be held liable.
The rationale for this rule is that the hospital is in a superior position to supervise and monitor a doctor’s performance as well as has a duty to employ competent physicians. Therefore, it is common for a victim to sue multiple parties in order to ensure that they are adequately compensated.
Numerous states have passed legislation limiting or capping the maximum monetary award a victim may collect. There is no medical malpractice damages cap in Florida at the current time.
How Much Time Do I Have to File My Medical Malpractice Claim?
The time limit for filing a specific legal claim is known as the “statute of limitations.” Florida requires a victim to file a lawsuit for medical malpractice action within two years of learning about the harm they have suffered. Or a malpractice lawsuit must be filed within 2 years from the time at which the victim reasonably should have discovered that they suffered harm because of medical negligence.
There is an absolute deadline of 4 years from the date when the alleged medical malpractice event took place. For minor children under the age of eight, a personal injury lawsuit for medical malpractice must be brought before their eighth birthday.
If these time limits have expired, then the victim is barred from bringing the lawsuit and loses their chance to recover for their injuries.
How Is Medical Malpractice Proven?
Several elements must be proven to succeed in a lawsuit for medical malpractice. The victim must be able to show the following to prove medical malpractice liability:
- The medical professional owed the patient a duty to provide care that met the standard of medical practice in the area, e.g., in diagnosing and treating the plaintiff’s condition;
- The medical professional failed to deliver care that met the proper standard of care because they were negligent in managing some aspects of the patient’s treatment. In other words, they breached the duty of care they owed to that patient;
- The medical professional’s negligent conduct was the direct cause of the patient’s injury;
- The injury resulted in the patient suffering measurable economic and non-economic losses.
A doctor who is a specialist is held to a higher standard of care than a general practitioner. They are assumed to have more specialized knowledge in their field of practice than that of a family physician.
If a specialist causes a person’s injury, they will hold the specialist to the same standard of care as other specialists within their field.
In addition, in Florida, a person who claims malpractice must prove that their injuries were not reasonably foreseeable or a result that was to be expected because of the nature of the treatment they received. This is true, of course, provided the treatment in question was competent.
However, a person has to expect certain adverse effects even in cases of competent treatment. For example, if a person has open-heart surgery, the surgeon has no choice but to open the person’s breastbone to gain access to their heart. A person must understand that they are going to endure pain and suffering in connection with such a procedure.
However, if the surgeon performed the surgery in a manner that met the standard of care, the patient cannot sue the surgeon for surgical malpractice.
Some items that may be useful for a victim to submit as evidence to support their claim include medical records, receipts for medical expenses, and the testimony of expert witnesses who can say in what way exactly the medical professional’s care fell below standard. But a person’s lawyer would know exactly how to prove malpractice and the damage that it caused their client.
Of course, a victim must also prove the harm they suffered and the losses they experienced because of that harm. So, for example, they would need to show that they missed work because of their injuries and may miss work in the future as well. An injury may affect a victim’s earning capacity on a permanent basis. If so, the victim must prove this and prove the economic loss it may cause them.
Of course, a victim may seek compensation for their non-economic damages, pain, and suffering. Of course, as noted above, Florida law does not cap damages for pain and suffering.
Do I Need a Florida Lawyer?
Medical malpractice actions often involve serious injuries that can have a significant adverse impact on a victim’s life. If you believe that you have been the victim of medical malpractice, even if you are not sure in what way your treatment was substandard, you want to consult a Florida personal injury attorney.
LegalMatch.com can connect you to an experienced personal injury lawyer who will be able to determine whether you have a strong case and can ensure that your case is filed within the statute of limitations. Your lawyer can locate the experts you would need to make your case and can represent you in court. Or, if your practitioner or the organization wants to settle before going to trial, your lawyer can assist you in negotiating a favorable settlement amount as well.
