Winter Park Medical Malpractice Lawyers - Paul Knopf Bigger

When you seek medical treatment, you trust your healthcare providers to make you better. Unfortunately, medical professionals are not immune from making mistakes. As a result, their patients could suffer adverse outcomes affecting every aspect of their lives. Sometimes, these mistakes rise to the level of medical malpractice, in which case victims of medical malpractice and their families must hold healthcare providers accountable by seeking monetary damages.

If this has happened to you, let Paul Knopf Bigger fight for the financial recovery you deserve. Our founding attorneys established our firm to help people and right wrongs, especially those involving medical malpractice and birth injuries. We carry that mission forward through our core principles of commitment, hard work, and personal service. You will never feel like just another case at our firm, because we put your goals, interests, and future at the center of every decision in your lawsuit. This approach has helped us deliver successful results for our clients and earned us a reputation among our legal peers as a trustworthy partner.

If you’ve suffered injuries or health complications due to substandard medical care, contact Paul Knopf Bigger for a free, no-obligation consultation. Learn what a Winter Park medical malpractice attorney from our law firm can do for you.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice refers to a type of personal injury case arising from negligent or reckless health care. However, not every adverse outcome of treatment or rehabilitation rises to the level of medical malpractice. Rather, medical malpractice is when a provider renders treatment that fails to comply with the applicable standard of care in the patient’s situation.

While the specifics vary from patient to patient, medical professionals generally define “standard of care” as the decisions and actions that other healthcare providers of similar training and experience would take in identical circumstances. Thus, if the same negative outcome likely would have occurred at the hands of a similar healthcare provider, no medical malpractice has occurred. However, when a provider makes treatment decisions that other providers would not have, and the patient suffers harm, the patient may have a malpractice claim.

What Are Common Types of Medical Malpractice Cases?

At Paul Knopf Bigger, our legal team advocates for the rights and interests of clients who have suffered harm due to instances of medical malpractice, such as:

• Surgical errors, including wrong patient/site surgery, leaving equipment inside patients, or failing to react to signs of patient distress
• Anesthesia errors, including failing to monitor a patient’s condition or administering too much or too little anesthesia, causing complications or a patient to wake up during surgery
• Medication errors, including prescribing contraindicated medication, miscalculating dosage, committing pharmacy errors, or administering medication to the wrong patient
• Emergency room errors, including triage errors and premature discharge
• Failure to diagnose/misdiagnosis of cancers and other chronic or terminal illnesses
• Hospital-acquired infections
• Radiology and laboratory testing errors
• Birth injuries

What Are Common Types of Birth Injuries?

A birth injury refers to any physical trauma or health complications a mother or baby suffers immediately before, during, or immediately after delivery. Some of the most common birth injuries caused by medical negligence include:

Who Can Be Held Responsible for Medical Malpractice?

Any medical or healthcare provider involved in negligent care could have liability for a patient’s injuries. Examples of professionals who may be responsible for medical malpractice include the following:

Healthcare facilities such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, and medical practices may also be responsible for negligent actions or omissions that those facilities’ employees commit.

What Types of Compensation Can I Pursue in a Medical Malpractice Claim?

In a medical malpractice claim, you are asking for money to offset the many negative effects of the improper treatment you received. Let Paul Knopf Bigger fight to secure medical malpractice compensation for the following:

• Costs of additional medical treatment and rehabilitation for the injuries and complications caused by the negligent care you received
• Costs of long-term care and support you may need for prolonged or permanent disabilities caused by your injuries or complications
• Lost wages due to the additional time you need to take off work to recover
• Loss of future earning capacity and employment benefits after becoming temporarily or permanently disabled from your job or other work
• Physical pain and anguish
• Emotional distress
• Lost enjoyment/quality of life due to disabilities, visible scarring and disfigurement, or reduced life expectancy

What Is the Process for Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim in Florida?

In Florida, you must complete several specific tasks before you can file a medical malpractice claim. First, you must obtain an affidavit from a medical professional in the same specialty or subspecialty as your healthcare provider. The affidavit must state the professional’s opinion as to the standard of care in your case and how your provider’s actions or decisions failed to comply with that standard, thus causing your injuries.

Once you’ve obtained an affidavit establishing the merit of your medical malpractice claim, you must give your provider at least 90 days’ notice before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against them. These 90 days allow your provider to investigate your claim, after which they can either deny liability or offer you a settlement. You may file a lawsuit after the 90-day investigation period expires, your provider rejects your claim, or you reject your provider’s settlement offer.

At Paul Knopf Bigger, our attorneys can handle these complicated steps on your behalf so that a mistake does not jeopardize your right to compensation.

How Can I Prove Medical Malpractice?

Proving that your adverse outcome was due to medical malpractice requires substantial evidence. This evidence would establish how your treatment deviated from the standard of care in a way that caused your injuries or complications. Types of evidence that might be helpful in your case include the following:

In addition, you will likely need expert reports and testimony from a medical professional in the same specialty or subspecialty as the provider who negligently treated you. Your expert must explain the specifics of the standard of care for your treatment, and how your provider’s decisions and actions failed to comply with this standard, thus causing the harm you’ve suffered.

How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Florida?

Under Florida’s statute of limitations, you must file your medical malpractice lawsuit within two years of the date that you received negligent treatment or two years of the date that you discovered the injuries or complications caused by that negligent treatment. However, you must file your lawsuit within four years of the treatment, regardless of when you discovered your injuries or complications. The principal exception is for medical malpractice claims brought on behalf of minors before their eighth birthday.

Talk to a Winter Park medical malpractice lawyer from Paul Knopf Bigger as soon as you suspect you may have received adverse medical care. This will give you the best chance of filing your claims on time.

How a Winter Park, FL, Medical Malpractice Attorney Can Help with Your Case

If you’ve suffered injuries or health complications as a result of medical malpractice, your focus should be on resting and healing, not on the complexities and frustrations of a lawsuit. The medical malpractice attorneys at Paul Knopf Bigger can pursue the financial and legal recovery you need while you devote yourself to your physical and emotional recovery.

Let us handle the details of your case by:

• Thoroughly investigating the underlying facts and circumstances of your treatment to obtain evidence for your case
• Identifying the medical professionals and healthcare providers at fault for the substandard treatment you received
• Documenting your injuries and losses to calculate your ongoing expenses and future anticipated needs
• Evaluating your legal options for financial recovery and filing your insurance claims or demand letters to begin pursuing your medical malpractice case
• Communicating and negotiating with hospital representatives, insurance adjusters, or defense lawyers on your behalf so you can focus on healing
• Aggressively pursuing maximum compensation for you through a settlement or by taking your case to court if the liable parties refuse to make you a fair offer

Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney in Winter Park, FL, Today

Are you hurting in the aftermath of improper medical care? A medical malpractice attorney in Winter Park will help you demand accountability and financial recovery from those to blame. Contact Paul Knopf Bigger today for a free, no-obligation consultation.