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Understanding Medical Malpractice Law in Florida


— February 23, 2022

There must be considerable injury done to you or a loved one for a Florida medical malpractice claim to be valid.


Suppose you or a loved one has been seriously harmed as a result of a physician’s, nurse’s, or other healthcare professional’s misconduct or negligence in Florida. In that case, you should speak with experienced Medical Malpractice lawyers in Jacksonville, florida.

Why? Because recent modifications to medical malpractice legislation (sometimes known as tort reform, although it should be termed tort deform) have loaded the deck against wounded plaintiffs. If you attempt to represent yourself against a major malpractice insurance attorney, your real malpractice case may be dismissed on technicalities.

Understanding What Medical Malpractice Is

Medical negligence can occur in a variety of ways. However, it is critical to note that just because a medical professional makes a mistake does not make them liable for malpractice. The legal criterion that must be fulfilled is proving a breach of the quality of practice. This legal criterion will be discussed further in this post. But, before we go into legal standards, let’s have a look at some of the most common situations where medical misconduct occurs:

Anesthesia Administration Mistake

When you have surgery, you will almost certainly be sedated. This is a drug that will put you to sleep so that you will be asleep during the procedure. However, improper anaesthetic delivery resulting in anaesthesia awareness is a dangerous type of malpractice. This is when you are physically awake throughout surgery and can feel the doctor’s incisions. This may be a traumatic and excruciatingly painful event. Because the surgeon and his team have a duty to guarantee that you are unconscious throughout an invasive surgery, poor anaesthetic delivery might be grounds for medical negligence.

Injuries That Could Have Been Avoided Had You Been Admitted to a Florida Hospital

Hospitals are responsible for ensuring the safety and proper treatment of admitted patients. This means they must properly assess prospective workers, including their past hospital experience, any applicable qualifications, and most advanced level of schooling. Suppose a hospital hires an incompetent doctor, nurse, or another staff member. In that case, the hospital may be held liable for any injury caused to patients as a result of the employee’s carelessness.

Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis is a cause of medical malpractice

When you see a doctor, you anticipate a thorough examination and a precise diagnosis of any significant medical problems. But, unfortunately, this is not always the case. Failing to identify a disease properly may have disastrous consequences for your health, especially if the ailment is potentially fatal, such as cancer.

The Process for Fixing Medical Errors Isn't an Easy One
Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels

If you or a loved one wants to pursue a malpractice claim because of a misdiagnosis or delayed treatment, you must prove that the healthcare provider was negligent.

A Medical Malpractice Claim’s Elements

When a patient is hurt as a result of a medical professional’s carelessness, they may be entitled to bring a lawsuit. As previously stated, filing a malpractice claim in Florida is difficult. It’s a bit complex. To successfully file a malpractice claim against a physician, nursing, or another medical practitioner, for example, you must meet the essential elements:

Breach of the Duty of Care

There must be proof that the doctor, nursing, or other medical malpractice perpetrator violated the appropriate standard of care due to you or a loved one.

To prove a breach, Florida’s Misconduct Law requires you to find a medical expert who works in the same area as the physician who committed the claimed malpractice and obtains a written declaration from the physician. If you do not produce this affidavit, your claim will be rejected.

Proximate Causation

In addition to establishing a breach of the quality of care, you must also prove causation. This means you must demonstrate that the doctor’s breach was the “proximate cause” of your harm. Essentially, evidence that your injuries would not have happened if the therapist had not been negligent is required.

Damages

To put it simply, there must be considerable injury done to you or a loved one for a Florida medical malpractice claim to be valid. Why? Because the expense of filing a malpractice claim is prohibitively expensive. As stated in Element 1, you must employ a medical expert to evaluate your file and determine whether misconduct occurred.

This is not something that medical specialists do for free. In reality, many impose exorbitant fees. This implies that your injuries must have been severe enough to have resulted in considerable medical expenditures, missed work time, and extensive suffering and pain.

Contact a Florida Medical Malpractice Attorney Right Away.

If you or a loved one has been badly injured by a doctor, physician, nurse, or other medical professionals, call the experienced Medical Malpractice lawyers in Jacksonville, Florida at the Doctor Lawyer Firm. Our legal experts will thoroughly analyse your medical records to establish whether a mistake or negligent act happened. During a free, confidential consultation, we may also sit down and explore your prospective legal options.

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