South Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyer, Florida Medical
Malpractice Attorneys
South Florida medical malpractice lawyer David I.
Fuchs has over 17 years of experience in successfully
representing medical malpractice victims, their families
and friends who have sustained and suffered serious bodily injuries
because of the negligence of doctor, hospital or health
care professional.
Medical malpractice, sometimes referred to as medical
negligence, occurs when a health care provider violates the
governing standard of care when providing treatment to a patient,
causing the patient to suffer an injury. Medical malpractice can
result from an action taken by the medical practitioner, or by the
failure to take a medically appropriate action. Examples of medical
malpractice include:
- Misdiagnosis of, or failure to diagnose , a disease or medical
condition;
- Failure to provide appropriate treatment for a medical
condition;
- Unreasonable delay in treating a diagnosed medical
condition;
Medical malpractice actions can be brought by the injured
patient against any responsible licensed health care provider,
including doctors, counselors, psychologists and
psychotherapists.
Limits on Malpractice Damages
Noneconomic damages are limited to $500,000.00 per claimaint in
most cases, or $1 million in cases in which the plaintiff dies or
is left in a persistent vegetative state. Total noneconomic damages
may not exceed $1 million. Punitive damages are limited to the
lesser of three times compensatory damages or $500,000.00. Punitive
damages are not capped if there is intent to harm.
Collateral Source Rule
Under a traditional collateral source rule, a defendant may not
seek to reduce its liability by introducing evidence that the
plaintiff has received compensation from other sources, such as the
plaintiff's own insurance coverage. For medical malpractice cases
in Florida, there is a binding offset for payments from collateral
sources, except for collateral sources for which there are
subrogation rights.
Rules for Expert Witnesses
Except where negligence would be obvious to a layman, expert
testimony is required to establish liability in a malpractice case.
A testifying expert must be from the same field of medicine as the
defendant, or have been in practice for at least five years prior
to the date the claim was filed.
Joint and Several Liability
Under a traditional rule of joint and several liability, where
more than one defendant is found liable for the injury suffered by
a plaintiff, each defendant is individually liable for the entire
amount of the judgment, such that if one defendant is unable to pay
the other defendant or defendants are liable for the entire amount
of the judgment. Legislation is now pending before the Florida
legislature to repeal joint and several liability
law.
Under Florida law, the damage award to which a Plaintiff is
entitled is reduced in proportion to the degree of the plaintiff's
fault. For example, if a jury found that a plantiff was 20%
responsible for his own injury, the damage award would be reduced
by that 20%, and the plaintiff could recover 80% of the damages
from the defendants. If one defendant were held 50% responsible for
the injury, and another defendant 30% at fault, they would
respectively be responsible to pay that percentage of the damages
award.
Statute of Limitations
Medical malpractice actions must be commenced within 2 years
from the date of the act giving rise to injury, or within two years
from the date the injury was or should have been detected, but no
malpractice action may be commenced more than four years following
the act giving rise to the injury. These limitations apply to
minors aged eight or older. For injuries to a child under the age
of eight resulting from medical malpractice, under Florida law the
child must file suit by his or her eighth birthday or within the
standard limitations period outlined above, whichever time period
is greater for any damages in excess of that amount.
Additional Rules
A plaintiff must serve upon the defendant a notice of intent to
initiate medical malpractice litigation, which includes a verified
written medical expert opinion attesting that there are reasonable
grounds to believe that each named defendant was negligent. If a
defendant denies the existence of reasonable grounds for the
plaintiff's claim, that defendant must file a corroborating
verified written medical expert opinion.
Florida law requires informal discovery and investigation by the
defendant's insurer before submssion of a malpractice claim to the
courts.
A court may order non-binding arbitration.
If the parties do not agree to binding arbitration, there is
mandatory mediation and a mandatory settlement conference before a
case may proceed to trial.
Patients are entitled to see doctors’ and hospitals’ records of
adverse medical incidents, including malpractice.
The state is prohibited from licensing doctors who have
committed three or more incidents of malpractice which involve a
finding of medical malpractice by a court, administrative agency,
or binding arbitration.
South Florida medical malpractice lawyer David I.
Fuchs will represent you
for injuries that include, but are not limited
to:
I) Injuries requiring surgery, sutures, staples
2) Traumatic Brain Injury, including those caused by oxygen
deprivation
3) Severe burns resulting in significant and permanent
scarring
4) Mental anguish and emotional distress,death
If you suspect that you, a family member or friend have been the
victims of medical negligence, it is important to seek
legal counsel to protect your legal rights by
calling Florida medical
malpractice lawyer David I. Fuchs who will take your
call and speak with you immediately about your car accident.
Florida medical malpractice lawyer David I. Fuchs will then
stand ready to fight for you to see that you get compensation for
your pain and suffering, any lost wages and medical
bills.
Call South Florida medical malpractice attorney David I.
Fuchs Toll Free at 800-570-2858 for a free consultation to
discuss your accident case. You may also write to South
Florida medical malpractice attorney David I. Fuchs by
filling out the form on the "Contact Us" page."
If you can not come to us South Florida medical
malpractice lawyer David I. Fuchs will send a representative
to see you. We speak English and Spanish. Se habla
ingles y espanol.
Llame David Fuchs Florida abogado de negligencia
profesionales .
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