medical malpractice lawyers in florida
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Use of tainted heparin is negligence not medical malpractice

  Florida court holds suit for hospital’s failure to remove recalled medication from its supply is not governed by medical malpractice rules. A patient was given tainted heparin during cardiac surgery, even though the drug company had issued a recall for the heparin months earlier. After losing two limbs from the resulting infection, the plaintiff sued the hospital where the surgery took place, alleging that the hospital had negligently failed to have the proper policies and procedures in place to ensure that the recall was handled properly and the tainted heparin was removed from the hospital’s supply. There was no alleged...

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Hospital lawyer allowed to meet in secret with patient’s doctor

Third District Court of Appeal in Florida declines to review trial court order finding university’s ex parte contact with treating doctor privileged. The plaintiffs filed a medical malpractice suit against the University of Miami and one other party, alleging negligence during a surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The University engaged in ex parte contact with a non-defendant doctor at Mt. Sinai Hospital who had treated the patient after the incident. The plaintiffs sought discovery regarding the ex parte contact, and the trial court denied it, finding that the treating doctor, who worked at Mt. Sinai “pursuant to an affiliation agreement...

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Surgeon motion to dismiss malpractice suit denied.

Florida Medical Malpractice - Surgeon

Florida appeals court holds an evidentiary hearing not always required when ruling on the motion to dismiss for failure to comply with malpractice pre suit screening requirements found in Chapter 766, Florida Statutes. The estate of a patient who died four days after an orthopedic surgery sued the surgeon for wrongful death, alleging that his negligent failure to monitor the patient after her release from the postanesthesia care unit led to her death. Along with her pre-suit notice of intent to initiate litigation, the plaintiff sent a verified written medical expert opinion from a doctor specializing in internal medicine and pulmonology....

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Cruise ship company liable for on-board doctor malpractice

Malpractice on Cruise Ships

Federal appeals court declines to adopt “Barbetta rule” and holds that a cruise ship may be vicariously liable for the negligence of ship medical staff under the actual or apparent agency theory. In the News Recently a cruise ship passenger fell and hit his head in Bermuda while his ship was at the port there. The passenger sought medical treatment on board the ship and died several days later, allegedly due to negligence by the ship’s medical staff. The personal representative of the passenger’s estate sued the cruise line for the staff’s alleged malpractice under the respondeat superior doctrine, bringing counts for...

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