When you receive medical care at a hospital, you are entrusting your health, and in some cases your life, to a medical provider. Doctors, nurses, and hospital staff are trained to practice medicine in the best interest of the patient, but sometimes, mistakes happen and the patient is harmed in the process. In the case that you or a loved one was injured as a result of a medical provider’s failure to treat their patient properly, you may sue the hospital where you or your loved one received care. You may be entitled to receive fair compensation for economic (medical bills, lost wages, earning capacity) and non-economic damages (pain and suffering), and in some situations, punitive damages. However, specific laws and procedures must be followed.
As with other personal injury matters, the burden of proving medical malpractice (i.e. the healthcare provider’s negligence) falls on the patient. Further, according to Florida law, injury from medical care does not mean that negligence was involved. The patient must prove that the injury resulted from a breach of the duty to abide by a healthcare provider’s professional standard of care.
Doctors, hospital staff, and the hospital itself may be deemed negligent depending on the circumstances of the case. When a medical professional acts negligently, it is called medical malpractice. In order for a medical professional to be deemed negligent, a few factors must be present. First, you must prove that the medical provider who you hired to treat you was negligent and did not provide competent care due to action or inaction. You must also be within the Statute of Limitations, meaning that according to Florida law, in most cases, you must file a lawsuit within two years of the date of the injury or in some instances, when you realized that you were injured. Generally, if you think you have been injured as a result of a hospital’s negligence you will want to speak with a personal injury attorney as soon as possible.
Medical malpractice happens when a healthcare professional or facility provides treatment that harms a patient and does not meet the standard of care. The standard of care means that there is a level of care that a reasonably skilled and competent healthcare provider would have provided in similar circumstances.
Yes, you can sue a hospital for medical malpractice, but in order to have a successful lawsuit, your case must have the following elements. These elements are similar to any other personal injury lawsuit.
You must show that the healthcare provider had a duty of care; the healthcare provider breached that duty when a competent provider would not have done so; the breach of this duty directly caused harm or injury to the patient; the patient suffered damages as a result of this injury. Damages may be economic, such as lost wages and earning capacity, to non-economic, the emotional toll that the injury took on your well-being, which is also known as pain and suffering.
Generally, in Florida, a medical malpractice lawsuit must be filed within two years of discovering the injury. However, if you don’t discover the injury immediately, you may have up to four years to file a lawsuit, which is also known as the statute of repose. In rare instances where there is fraud, concealment, or misrepresentation by the healthcare provider, you may have up to seven years to file a lawsuit.
In order to file a lawsuit against a healthcare provider or hospital, there are specific requirements that must be followed.
First, you must show hospital negligence. The injured party, who is also the plaintiff, must investigate the case to see whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that medical malpractice happened. It may be important to take as many pictures as possible of the injury, keep medical records and medical bills, and take notes in all doctor visits. Further, if you or a loved one are injured because of medical malpractice, try to write down what happened with as many details that you can provide. These personal statements and details may be very helpful later on for your attorney or the legal claims process.
Second, the plaintiff must send a Notice of Intent, which basically says that there is a patient who believes that medical malpractice occurred, to the healthcare provider in which the healthcare provider has 90 days to respond to this claim.
Expert Witnesses are another key element in order to sue a hospital in Florida. The injured party or plaintiff is required to get a written medical opinion from a qualified medical professional that supports the medical malpractice claim. The medical professional who serves as a witness must be in a similar field as the defendant and assert that there are reasonable grounds to make a medical malpractice claim.
At one time, Florida had caps on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. However, since 2017, these caps have been removed, which allows plaintiffs to recoup fair compensation for their medical malpractice claim. Previously, there was a $500,000 cap in medical malpractice lawsuits against practitioners, and $1 million, where medical negligence contributed to a death.
Economic damages (such as medical bills, earning capacity, and lost wages) are not capped, meaning you can recover full compensation for these losses.
As with other personal injury lawsuits, you may sue for economic damages, which covers financial losses, such as medical bills, lost income, and costs of future medical care or rehabilitation. You may also sue for Non-economic damages are intangible losses like pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. Punitive damages are more rare but if a hospital’s actions were egregious, such as gross negligence, the court may award punitive damages to punish the defendant and to deter the same conduct in the future.
Florida is a comparative fault state, which means that if a patient is found to be partially negligent, or in other words, partially liable for their injury, then the damages that they may recoup is reduced according to the percentage of fault. For instance, if a patient is awarded $50,000 in damages but were 20 percent at fault then the amount that they receive is reduced by 25 percent so they would receive $40,000.
You may sue a public hospital but Florida’s sovereign immunity laws limit the amount of damages you can recover to $200,000 per person and $300,000 per claim. Any claims above these amounts would require legislative approval.
In many instances, personal injury legal claims will settle before trial. It is often in both parties’ best interest to reach an agreement to avoid going to court. However, sometimes going to trial is necessary because the plaintiff and defendant are unable to reach a mutual agreement on the settlement amount. Medical Malpractice trials will need expert testimony and significant evidence to be successful.
Personal injury cases, including medical malpractice cases, can be challenging to navigate without legal representation. Further, medical malpractice cases are even more technical and require statements from expert witnesses to prove your case. That is why most victims hire a medical malpractice attorney to handle their claim.
Ultimately, you can sue for medical malpractice in Florida, but the process involves meeting specific legal requirements, including deadlines, expert witness testimony, and pre-suit procedures. If you believe you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, it’s important to consult with an experienced attorney to ensure your rights are protected and to maximize your chances of recovering damages. Contact us at Clayton Trial Lawyers for more information.
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