12 September

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Statute of Limitations vs. Repose

in Legal Advice, medical malpractice, statute

The Statute of Limitations legal definition: A type of federal or state law that restricts the time within which legal proceedings may be brought. When civil lawsuits are filed in Florida the state’s statute of limitations provides the deadline for when a potential plaintiff who has suffered harm must file their claim. The statute varies from state to state and by case type. In Florida, the statute of limitation is typically around 2 years from the initial incident. Not every case is easy to identify when or if the limitations have started. Many states use a so-called “discovery rule”, which essentially...

30 October

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Florida Supreme Court strikes down caps on noneconomic damages in other types of medical malpractice cases.

Posted by Malpractice Specialists

in medical malpractice, statute

Back in 2004, a law was passed by the Florida Legislature placing severe caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases. In a Florida Supreme Court case decided back in 2014, the Florida Supreme Court found those caps to be unconstitutional in malpractice cases involving the death of the patient. (Estate of McCall v. the United States, 134 So. 3d 894 (Fla. 2014). That earlier decision technically left open the question of whether the caps were still in effect for malpractice cases when the patient was only seriously injured but did not die because of the medical malpractice. Now, in...

16 October

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Florida Supreme Court upholds statutory “foreign body presumption of malpractice,” even when additional evidence of negligence exists.

Posted by Malpractice Specialists

in medical malpractice

Normally, a malpractice plaintiff must prove that malpractice occurred, causing their injuries. But Florida has a law which provides that following a surgery if a foreign object is found left in the surgical site (sponges, scalpels, needles, catheters, etc.), that fact alone establishes for the patient that medical malpractice occurred. The burden then shifts to the doctor or hospital defendant to specifically prove they were not negligent. In this case, a patient was still having abdominal pain four months after surgery, and a CT scan found a 4.25-inch piece of drainage tube left inside his abdomen, requiring a second surgery...

10 September

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Florida Supreme Court holds Florida patients are entitled to access to hospital adverse incident reports, in spite of federal statute.

Posted by Malpractice Specialists

in medical malpractice, statute

Florida Supreme Court holds Florida patients are entitled to access to hospital adverse incident reports, in spite of federal statute. For many decades, there were laws on the books in Florida which specifically prevented patients from having access to information about adverse medical incidents and patient injuries within hospitals, including even information about mistakes made in the patient’s own medical care. In 2004, Florida voters approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution changing the law and allowing wide access to hospital adverse incident records. This change to the Florida Constitution is often referred to as the “Patient’s Right to Know”...

20 May

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Appeals court invalidates release form the surgeon made a patient sign BEFORE surgery

Posted by Malpractice Specialists

in High Pressure, Legal Advice, Necessary Forms

Before performing spinal fusion surgery, the surgeon had the patient sign a release form stating the following: As of January 1, 2013, [the doctor] will not carry any medical malpractice insurance. Being of sound mind and sound body, I hereby acknowledge this fact and agree not to sue [the doctor] for any reason. My reason for doing this is that I realize that [the doctor] and his staff will do the very best to take care of me according to community medical standards. During the surgery, the patient’s ureter was allegedly cut, causing significant injury. The patient sued the surgeon, and the...

24 April

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Jury verdict for patient overturned on appeal because the patient’s expert gave surprise testimony at trial

Posted by Malpractice Specialists

in Legal Advice, medical malpractice, statute

A patient died of meningitis caused by an ear infection, and his widow sued for medical malpractice. Up until trial, there was no allegation in the pleadings or by the patient’s experts during their pre-trial depositions that the defendant doctor had been negligent by giving the patient samples of Levaquin, an antibiotic. However, during the trial, two of the patient’s expert witnesses testified for the first time that they believed that the doctor had been negligent by giving Levaquin. The package insert from Levaquin was also admitted into evidence over the defendants’ objection, and the plaintiff reemphasized the Levaquin issue...

Statute of Limitations vs. Repose

Florida Supreme Court strikes down caps on noneconomic damages in other types of medical malpractice cases.

Florida Supreme Court upholds statutory “foreign body presumption of malpractice,” even when additional evidence of negligence exists.

Florida Supreme Court holds Florida patients are entitled to access to hospital adverse incident reports, in spite of federal statute.

Appeals court invalidates release form the surgeon made a patient sign BEFORE surgery

Jury verdict for patient overturned on appeal because the patient’s expert gave surprise testimony at trial

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