Florida’s Approach to Medical Malpractice Cases

In this article, we’ll talk about how Florida approaches these lawsuits. We’ll cover why meeting the two-year deadline for negligence cases matters and also how you should move forward if you feel you have valid cause to sue a medical professional or entity.

What Does Medical Malpractice Mean?

Let’s start by defining medical malpractice so you’ll know what we mean when we use this term. Medical malpractice means a doctor, hospital, or some other medical professional or entity harmed you when you were their patient. They failed to provide what the state of Florida and the legal profession call the standard of care.

The standard of care refers to an established set of procedures that you can expect a doctor, hospital, or some other medical entity or professional to follow when they take care of you. Anyone in the medical profession should know what to do if you come in showing certain symptoms or making a particular complaint. They have received medical training, and they presumably have the equipment on-site to help you.

 
If they know what they should do to assist you, and they have the equipment and medication to do so, but they fail in that duty, they haven’t followed the standard of care. In Florida, proving this means a great deal in medical malpractice cases. Often, whether you win your case or not depends on whether you can prove an entity or facility in the medical field didn’t provide the care standard that you could reasonably expect as their patient.

The Two-Year Negligence Case Deadline That Florida Imposes

There’s another term that you might hear a lot in Florida medical malpractice cases. That is “negligence.” Negligence and the recognized standard of care have a lot to do with each other.

If a medical professional or facility taking care of you didn’t provide the standard of care you could reasonably expect, you could likely say they acted negligently. In Florida legal cases, negligence means someone should have acted in a particular way, as society dictates they should, but they didn’t do that.

 
In some respects, you can say negligence resembles the standard of care, but in a broader or more general sense. The standard of care often comes into play with individuals in the medical field who should act in a particular way. Anyone can act with negligence, though.

 
They might do so if they should have stopped at a red light, but they cruise through it in their car and hit you when you’re in the crosswalk. If they went over the speed limit on the highway and caused an accident, a lawyer could argue negligence in that case. Someone who doesn’t repair a feature of their home, causing an injury when you visit them, probably acted negligently.

 
In medical malpractice cases in Florida, you usually have a two-year deadline. During that time, you must file documentation if you have enough evidence of negligence to sue someone. Exceptions do exist, but they’re rare. For instance, maybe you’re in a coma for months or years and can’t make decisions during that time. If so, the two-year period during which you sue for medical malpractice won’t start till you wake up and have control over your faculties.

What to Do if You Feel You Can Sue Someone in Florida for Medical Malpractice

If you feel that a medical professional or facility in Florida harmed you and didn’t give you the standard of care that you would expect under the circumstances, you can find a lawyer and talk to them about it. You’ll need to find a law firm or attorney who knows personal injury law. If they do medical malpractice cases and they have experience in this particular area, so much the better.

You must tell the lawyer about what happened to you. Don’t omit any details, and don’t embellish either. Then, they can tell you whether they think you have a case and whether they’ll take you on as a client.

 
Often, a personal injury attorney or law firm will jump at the opportunity to represent you if they agree that a doctor or some other individual in the medical community committed medical malpractice. Doctors often have deep pockets, and hospitals must carry medical malpractice insurance as well.

 
Most personal injury lawyers love taking cases like this. They can potentially seek multi-million dollar payouts for you if a doctor or hospital hurt you badly or made you very ill.

Will Your Case Go to Trial?

Florida, like most other states, views medical malpractice cases harshly. If a doctor or hospital did everything correctly, then if you still get sick or sustain an injury, you can’t blame them. If they followed the standard of care that the medical community recognizes, you must accept what happened. Suing the doctor or hospital will not accomplish anything, and a personal injury lawyer probably won’t take the case anyway.

 
If you feel strongly that you were a medical malpractice victim and an attorney agrees, then you can sue the entity or person responsible. During the discovery phase, your lawyer and their investigators will uncover any evidence they can use that they feel will show a jury this person or entity did not follow the established care standard.

If they find plenty of evidence, the individual or facility you’re suing might decide to settle. They will come up with a number that they feel makes sense based on what happened. This number might take into account your pain and suffering along with the financial losses you’ve accrued.

 
You can accept the settlement or go to trial and try to get more. That depends on whether you think the settlement offer makes sense based on your particular situation.