Florida Hospital Malpractice Attorneys

Thousands of patients are seriously injured each year due to errors and negligence in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Although patient safety and quality have improved in the past ten years, nursing errors, misdiagnoses, premature discharges, falls, medication errors, and other preventable errors still threaten patients’ health and well-being.

In Florida, healthcare facilities have a legal duty to meet accepted standards in patient care. According to section 766.110 of the Florida Statutes, healthcare facilities must assure “comprehensive risk management and the competence of their medical staff and personnel.”  If they fail to do so, they can be held liable when their failure causes injury to a patient. In other words, when patients are injured due to substandard hospital care by hospital employees, the injured patients have the right to hold the hospital liable for their injuries.

If you or a member of your family has been one of the unfortunate patients injured because of medical negligence or error while being cared for in a hospital or other healthcare facility, you may be able to hold the hospital liable for negligence and the harm it caused. With a Florida medical malpractice claim, you could potentially obtain substantial compensation for your medical expenses, lost income, pain, suffering, and other damages resulting from the surgical error.

The Florida medical malpractice attorneys of Paul Knopf Bigger are committed to holding negligent healthcare providers and hospitals accountable for the harm they cause patients and their families. We have years of successful trial experience and have won numerous multi-million-dollar settlements and awards for the families whom we have had the privilege of representing. We look forward to discussing your potential Florida medical malpractice claim and addressing any questions or concerns you may have about the legal process.

Negligence and Errors at Florida Hospitals

According to Florida law, hospitals are responsible for ensuring the competence of their medical staff and personnel through careful selection processes and periodic review of their job performance. If a hospital hires or continues to employ unqualified or incompetent personnel, it may be liable for patient injuries caused by those employees.

Similarly, hospitals are responsible for providing adequate staffing so that employees can keep track of patients’ records and provide proper care. If a hospital fails to meet these responsibilities and a patient is injured because of that failure, the hospital could be held liable for the injuries.

Understaffing and lax employee selection and review processes can result in harmful negligence and errors. So too can lack of communication among staff, poor patient hand-off procedures, inconsistent procedures, rushed decision-making and care, and defective equipment. Some of the resulting errors are minor, but many are very serious and even life-threatening. These errors include:

• Medication errors – Medication errors – administering the wrong medication, the wrong dose, or not giving a necessary medication – are a leading cause of patient injuries and fatalities in hospitals.
• Diagnostic errors – Diagnostic errors seriously harm 40,000 to 80,000 patients per year, according to recent research. Most of these errors occur in primary care practices, but some also occur in emergency rooms, with devastating results.
• Surgical errors – Approximately 4,000 surgical errors occur each year in the U.S. Ranging from operating on the incorrect body part to failing to detect and/or stop internal bleeding to not detecting and treating infections after surgery, these errors have very serious consequences.
• Labor and delivery errors – Negligent monitoring, delays in detecting a problem and preventing injury and improper extraction methods can cause serious birth injuries.
• Premature discharge – Discharging a patient prematurely before a condition has been diagnosed correctly so appropriate treatment can occur or before a patient has received adequate care instructions can be very harmful to patients.
• Negligent monitoring and care – When nurses and other hospital healthcare professionals do not monitor patients carefully, adverse events affecting patients’ lives can occur very quickly. When they provide substandard care, patients can develop life-threatening infections, suffer from reactions to medications or lack of medication, and get injured from falls.

If you or a family member has been harmed by a hospital-related medical error, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim against the hospital. An experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney from Paul Knopf Bigger can help you initiate effective legal action to recover substantial compensation for the damages you have suffered.

Florida Medical Malpractice Claims Against Hospitals

Under Florida law, a hospital or other healthcare facility that breaches its duty to provide safe patient care through careful hiring, review and risk management processes, can be held liable when patients are harmed because of the facility’s breach of duty. Patients who have been harmed by medical errors and negligence while receiving care in a hospital or another healthcare facility may be able to file a medical malpractice claim against the negligent healthcare facility to recover compensatory damages for:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Lost income
• Diminished earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Inconvenience
• Diminished capacity for enjoying life
• Other damages recoverable under Florida law

Medical malpractice lawsuits to recover damages from injuries due to hospital negligence and errors can be very complicated. Proving that the hospital breached its duty and that the breach led to a patient being injured requires a thorough investigation into all the details of the case, a comprehensive understanding of all the facts, high quality expert testimony and skill as a trial lawyer.

Paul Knopf Bigger attorneys are skilled litigators with the knowledge and expertise to provide excellent representation to clients across the country who have been seriously injured by hospital malpractice in Florida. Our attorneys work together to give clients the benefits of our combined knowledge, skills and substantial resources to achieve justice and full compensation.

Statute of Limitations for Florida Hospital Malpractice Cases

The statute of limitations for all medical malpractice lawsuits in Florida is two years from the date the malpractice occurred, was discovered or should have been discovered. The latest date permissible for having discovered malpractice is four years from the date the initial medical error or negligent event occurred.

Patients who have been injured while receiving care in a hospital or in another healthcare facility should seek advice from an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. Florida law requires that a thorough investigation, including a review of the claim and a verified written medical expert opinion, be completed as part of the mandatory notice of intent to initiate litigation, and malpractice victims need to ensure their claims can be filed within the allowable time period.

Accomplished Florida Hospital Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Medical malpractice cases are usually very complex. Preparing winning cases requires the skill and knowledge of experienced trial attorneys and the resources of a successful law firm. The attorneys of Paul Knopf Bigger have won many multi-million-dollar settlements and awards and have the experience, skill and resources you can depend on to win your hospital malpractice case.

Lawyers throughout the U.S. trust us to successfully handle their clients’ complex Florida medical malpractice claims. If you or a family member has been harmed by hospital malpractice, we are the law firm you too can trust to provide the outstanding representation, personal attention and results you want.

Please call us at 855.292.2111 or submit the “Free Case Evaluation” form on our website to discuss your case with an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney you can trust for excellence in the pursuit of justice.